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20110918_living_with_uncertainty_john_sermon.mp3

We live in uncertain times. In case you haven't noticed. Reminder to an old new yorker cartoon that. When pointed me to. Some years ago in which adam and eve are. Being expelled from the garden of eden and one says to the other it's uncertain which. Well my dear. We seem to be living in the time of transition. And there is something. Very deep. In our human psyche that really does not like this. The summer i was talking to a parent of young children. Dad was complaining. But when i let her choose a book. She asked me for this same story over and over and over again. You know why i asked. Why. I just get bored. Because she knows. How that story turns out. And no matter how many bad things happened in it. And there are usually more than a few and a good children's story. In the end everything is okay. Even if there had been frightening things or losses or tragedies. She knows the ending. And there is a comfort. Last wednesday i was talking to a group of elders mostly in their 80s. My team was taken from the book that we selected this year is our first parish book of the year. 4. 2011-12 is karen armstrong's. 12 steps to a compassionate life. And in the 7th chapter or step called how little we know. Armstrong rights. That we need to learn to quote stand back and listen. To be aggressive certainty. The characterizes. Too much of our discourse these days. Consider for a moment your profession or something that really interests you. Is it true that the more you know about this. The special field of yours the more acutely you become aware of all you still have to learn. Notice how disturbing it is to hear somebody talking dogmatically. About your subject. Over dinner. We're on the radio. I'm making serious mistakes and false claims that are almost physically painful to hear. A few minutes later a man. In his. 80 spoke up and said. So many people my age including myself seen the field at the world around us is rapidly. And we've assembled plenty of evidence so what do you have to say to that. And i replied. The older we get. The more stories we hear in the news and elsewhere that are not like. The familiar stories that we grew up with and lived through. We know how those stories turned up. We don't know. How do you snooze. Much less the big story. That all humans are in together. And that is what makes us anxious. Norman cousins the great religious liberal. No one of us ever has enough evidence. To justify. An ultimate despair. We need to keep the door. Bob hope. Open with the unending. An unfinished story. Good answer the manville. Kind enough to say. I think there are many who do despair. Some ironically even invoking the name of faith or religion to do so. Back when i was first starting out in liberal ministry a fundamentalist name to hal lindsey. Almost sold out the bible itself during the 1970s with a little book based on his reading of the bible. And predicting global destruction was called the late great planet earth. Religious historian martin marty reviewed it in one short sentence. This author gave up on the world before god did. You may remember that last spring another christian fundamentalist in harold camping. Predicted that the end of the world and the return of christ would come on may 21st. When nothing obvious occurred that day. Camping said that well espiritual judgment had occurred in heaven. But the rapture of the saved in the physical destruction of the world. Would come only on october. The 21st. So hang on. Meanwhile somewhat more humble christians pointed out that in the gospels jesus is quoted as saying. But the coming of god's kingdom on earth. About that hour or dead no one knows. Not even the angels in heaven. Not even the son of man. Probably not immediately obvious. But i hear that tony hoagland. About sunlight. As a kind of liberal commentary on all of this. It places the presents. Of the divine the coming. Of the kingdom. Not in some future world. Beyond this one. But right in the present. Accessible to us. As sunlight. And often overlooked. In a reminder that among your duties. Pleasure. Is a thing that also. Accomplishing. Do you remember. The time and light. Our kinds of love. And love is no less practical than a coffee grinder. We're safe spare tire. Tomorrow you may be utterly without a clue. But today you get a telegram. From the heart in exile. Proclaiming that the kingdom still exist. The king and queen alive. Still speaking to their children. To anyone of them among them. Who can find the time. To sit out in the sun. Call man eggnog. Or maybe a hedonist with some deep moral standards. But i think that most of the certainty about what god wants. Or even about god. Is overrated. Both by fundamentalists and by the cultured despisers of things religious. The so-called new atheists. And so does karen armstrong. I'm so do the wisest of scientists i think. Who bought before the mystery. Of how little we really know. In fact. An article called why certainty about god is overrated. Appeared in usa today in august. Concerning physicist theologian john polkinghorne among others. Bill bradley bless you passed it on to me. It includes a great quote from rachel held evans book. Evolving in monkey town. Which tells her own story of being brought up in dayton tennessee. The site of the 1925 scopes monkey trial. Among people who knew all the answers one way or the other. About who we human beings are where we come from where we are going. Evans rights. Most of the people i've encountered. Are not looking for a religion to answer all their questions. But for a community of faith. In which they feel safe asking them. And if that's the case with you then you're in the right place this morning. Unitarian universalism where all your questions are you all your answers our question. Said a recent ad about our approach to lifespan religious education and spiritual development. Because according to the wisest voices of human knowing across boundaries. Of creed and culture. Yeah that's alright olive. How can you preach in competition with that i asked you. There are enduring mysteries. But give added. Dimensions. To our ongoing human quest. For meaning and value. The mystery of why there's something. Something at all. Instead of nothing. Call it kosmos creativity process mystery chaos. Hookah name. Perhaps we are wisest when we just bow in humble unknowing before it. Second why is there life. Wife at all in this universe. Didn't need to be. Unlife interdependent. Life that. Do competitive and cruel at times 6 also. When it is wiser. What rabbi jesus called life and life more abundant. For all. Fellow creatures. And can't we still seek that form. Apply for. Well even for the. The salmon in the stream being restored in washington. See the sun shining in the rain falling on the just and the unjust alike. And behind the bowls in the rainbow over them the sign of a peaceable kingdom. In which we are wisest if we seek to minimize the killing. And the imbalances. Boss still surviving in the sunlight and helping others to thrive as well why. Can we even. Have the consciousness. To ask an answer such questions. Equipos to perceive into measure. The answer and then again the question until learnin to propound every possibilities in hypotheses and theories and axioms. To keep open. The questions god willing in humility. The possibility of how we mortals might even in all our wisdom still be wrong. Ottawa county. For consciousness. All i know is this i question whether our human future is predetermined. And with william james. I make a leap of faith into the inner experience of my own free will. And into that uncertainty. But as i suggested here last week despite our inability. To control the winds or the waves of the currents of our time. Still lets us. Kitchen together. At least. Adjust our course. And set our sails. The tack of it more wisely. Toward home. That creative place. From which we come toward which we humans. Must say a large ship. Carefully loaded. With love. Between the generations. Despite uncertainty. Ultra unfortunately. All too often unfortunately human evolution seems to get stuck somewhere. Say in monkey town. Early on religions arise around great spiritual wisdom that's designed to help human beings damp down our collective anxiety. And to take a spiritual life of faith. Into an always uncertain moral future. But later generations of the fearful. Then interpret those originally wise teachings is literally stick orthodoxies certainties. Fundamentalism. Our purpose here is in part to question. All such fear-filled orthodoxies weather of the right or the left. In 1944 the great federal juris learned that hand said. In the american battle of minds too many are seeking freedom. Until fuse ticking liberty. Well the spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the mind of other. Women and men. The spirit of liberty is the spirit that weighs their interest. Along its own. Alongside its own without bias. Frankly like you i worry about the world into which we. For our children. Or our children's children. Arnel bringing the next generation. Not to worry that is. Is our parents did. Some better some worse. They're better examples coming from those who worried. With others. In community. And then learned to damp down the anxiety. And to go about giving better examples. Of how to live. With light. Thug love. Despite unser. While still. Being. Aware. Of all that is undetermined. So can i tell you how to live with all of the many uncertainties you now face in your life. Not really. Each of us must in the end both set and trim those sales. Calmly as we can. Reliable. And then helped the whole society in the global community to which we belong set its collective sale. For the future in which both we and. Our children and august. Can better survive and thrive. Even in the face. Herbalife sensor. So may it be. With love.

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050313_Lyceum15_Buehrens.mp3

Welcome to the needham lyceum. A forum on public affairs spirituality culture and science held. Sunday mornings at the historic meeting house. Need a message. I'm john laurens the minister first parish. And the moderator of the lyceum. We've had another winter storm. And the effect that this one was to discourage. The interlocutor that i had invited to be with me today to discuss the debate over the social security. So you have me with my. Opinions on the subject and mine analysis. And i trust your own this is the public affairs issue of. The day. Give me the one that is being. Most widely discussed in there are very few people. Who don't have her perspective. On our social security. Nearly all of us participate in it. It is the truth that some clergy you know can exempt themselves. From the social security. Vows of poverty in the life in. Sign forms. Or the social security i'm not among them so i have a vested interest. In the social security system which helps. Support my 84 year old mother. And a witch. I think about also in relation to my. A twenty-something. Children. One of the truths about social security forces that the way it is structured in the united states it is not only a system of social insurance. People often forget. How many people. Other than retirees. Our benefit. B. That is survivors of people who die before reaching retirement. Their dependence. Those who are. Children. Of people in the social security. Benefits up until the age of 18 or 19 if they're still in high school. These benefits of actually constitute. I'm more notable percentage of the social security. The man is often this. Because the present. Discussion is almost entirely. On the retirement. Social. I have to admit it's always seems unusual for religious leaders to be thinking about economically and political issues but i have been. Within the last couple of weeks again reinvigorating my conviction but there is a justification for religious leaders to think about these issues. In larger philosophical and moral terms. By reading a jim wallis's new book god's politics. What the right doesn't get. Why the right gets it wrong and the left doesn't get it. A new vision for faith in politics in america. One of the things jim does is talk about. How is a young evangelical. I he wants a demonstrated his. Concern. Or the connection between. Political economically issues. And his own biblical faith. By going through the bible and cutting out. Every reference. The money. Rip war. Justice. What the bible suggested. About the distribution. Oh well. About. Charity about. Call anything touching on naaman. By the time he cut out all of those verses his bible was in tatters. Nearly a third of the text. Had to do. With economic matters. I remember when i was a student of harvard divinity school seven years ago. One of the things that raise the eyebrow of my advisor was that i enrolled in the basic course. Economics. I was applying for special permission. Take a course in the faculty of arts and sciences. Identity score. From my advisor when i. Fell into conversation with a fellow student who was doing the same. He was going to leave the divinity school and go into politics. But it wasn't taking the course on economically. Instead he was enrolling in a special seminar on machiavelli. My fellow student was a gentleman named david stockman. Later became the budget director. In the reagan administration. And. Found himself center of some considerable notoriety. When in a famous article in the atlantic the reporter william greider. Got stockman speaking rather candidly. About the huge. Text taken place under the reagan administration during the 1980s. And the way they had been distributed. The hogs really got to feeding at the trough. Stockman admitted. Saying that it was almost entirely large corporation. And wealthiest. Who have benefited. From the economic stimulus. The facts about that had been. Imposed. Well this is a familiar pattern. And i'm afraid that some of my analysis with regard to the proposals. Affecting social security. Also have to do with the question of how you cannot make pain and economic risk. Gets distributed. Society. Let's back up a little bit. And discuss what's being proposed. With. What the problem is and what's being proposed in the way of solute. There's simply no question. But that the present structure of the social security. Retirement. Poses some difficulty. The number of younger workers. Who will be supporting. Myself and my age-mates members of the baby boom generation. When we are numerous and retirement. All is going to be. Significant. Bert. That is. In order to keep. The general flow of retirement benefits. Do both baby boom. Large generation. One would have to. Make some adjustments. In the present system. That would. Either increase what is already a fairly regressive tax. Social security tax. Or. Modify the benefits downward. From those that have been expected. And promise. Legislation. We're going to talk in a little while. About. What some of those alterations. Might be in the way of. Extending the retirement age. Raising not the rate of the tax but the amount of income that is sub. To it. Now limited to the first $90,000 of it. We're making other adjust. In the system. That would. Truly affect the balance of. Income. And i'll go into the social security trust fund. You've been reading the newspaper at all you know that. The present situation is one where approximately in the year 2018. The. Social security taxes. Will no longer be sufficient. To increase. The social security trust fund. And we will begin drawing on the trust fund. In order to maintain. The benefits. To the coming generation to trust one being a bit. All the theoretical construct. This is the. Portion of the government's obligation to retirees. Which is tied up in government bonds itself. So the government. Lensed with self. From. The. From robbins. Which frankly. Pretty much intermingle. Social security taxes and other taxes aren't are not totally separated in our way of doing. Budgeting. And by 2042. The social security trust fund which is. Been accumulating a surplus. During the working years of my large baby boom generation. Will begin will get reach the point where it no longer has sufficient income. When combined with current social security tax info. The meet all of the exist. Obligations. Current law. That is the distance at which this. So-called prices. Has to be. Face. That is its. Psalms 37 years. From a point where we would. Actually have insufficient government revenues. Our. The print administration. Rather tattoo the surprise of many people is. Using fun. Emma social security. To promote its own solution. Its own solution being one of creating water now to be called personal accounts. Notice before language privatization. It's been abandoned but in effect. The proposal is that 4%. Of the social security tax. Would be. Made available to people who elected. Be redirected into. An account that would be similar to most. Ira. Independently. Manet. The fees of that management. Not quite yet specified. And with a range of investment options that would be somewhat limit. As is often the case in. 401k plan. Operated by. The interesting thing about the proposal. In my view is too full. One is that there is no clear evidence. That personal account. Per se. Really correct the issue. That is. Said to be. The primary. Problem. That is. Simply by redirecting money into personal accounts those not. Change. The ultimate balance. Between the generations. The hope. Horse vets the invested funds. In personal accounts. Would earn above the modest rates of interest paid by the government itself in the social security trust fund. I'm indeed historically stock investments have generally outperformed government bonds. Who are the greed that would. Lend some credibility. So the idea that. Younger workers. I might in fact through these personal. I accumulate fun somewhat more rapidly. And built for their retirement. Successful. Then they they might otherwise however. Note that there's no guarantee. And more prudent predictor. Of the. Gap. With the. Generated. Once they take into account management. And the simple fact that he. People can have downturns. In their private in the. Save it. One cannot count on. In any. The makeup the inter generation. Just the other day i was with. A retired member of the congregation. Continues to work. Ask the normal retirement. Who is telling me that for ira. Still has not reached. Well even 50%. Of the level that it was at. Before the stock market. Elapsed. 2000. 1001. One of the reasons that i think. The proposal. What counts is not. Receiving more acclaim is the memories are not all that short. The people cannot recall. That there is risk in and unpredictability. Such investments. Certainly my own experience. That. Iras do not always. Go up. I think of another person who always referred to his retirement savings account as. Is sinking fund. Because that's all that it ever seem to do. Enterprise in broad strokes of course that probably. The breadth of people in over the. Longer-term. However one of the things that distresses me about the proposal to try to solve this problem with personal accounts. The very question of the day. What's this contrast two people. One of them has very modest. Ability. To save. Because their income level. Is very close to. The minimum required for a diesel. Family life. A lower-middle-class. Berner. Under the present circumstances. Social security as a social insurance. Provides a guarantee. Should that worker. Have a windfall by inheritance. Or managed to eke out particularly after the child-rearing years. The ability to set aside some further. Vons. Retirement. One of the things that becomes possible. Is that with a guaranteed. Income. In retirement. Security. Once and actually take. Few more risks. 1 saving. You wouldn't have to. Put it in. Government bonds. You might actually. Advise. To put a portion of. Stock. In the hole. Greater return. On the other hand. That same worker. If. Having elected. Personal account. It's already but. Some of their very modest. Retirement income at risk. In the stock market. Should they have any further ability to. Well. Indicate. They might not be so well advised. They might be better advised. To invest in very safe. Low interest. Bond. Someone of greater me. Someone whose income level. Perhaps the $90,000 a year that is currently tact. Very likely. Have some additional return. Once ordering. That person has not only a government guarantee. Retirement. Floor. But they have already established. The ability. Or higher return. With. Privatization. They are very little effective. In terms of their risk bala. Or what a prudent financial advisor with. About how they might. Another word. Put very simply. Under this proposal. Those who have higher incomes in our wealthier. And are generally more secure economically. Will be. Interposition to take greater risks. While those at the lower income level. Would be ill-advised. The distribution of risk in society is one of the philosophical and almost moral issues. That leads me to question whether this is a sound proposal. I'm reminded of how many areas of our society. We now have where there seems to be a. In the name of. Promoting opportunity upward. Actually a distribution of greater risks. Downward. Or. The broadening of risk across. Society. Rather than it being undertaken. By those who have the greatest power and wealth. Risk is increasingly distributed. The people who have relatively little ability to deal with it. I think of this in terms of the of the environment. There are environmental risks that are constantly being distributed in our society one of the issues of environmental justice. Has to do with why does it happen. That the mercury. Ewing. Power plant. Always. Seems. The end up. In the poor neighborhood. In the locale where the people have relatively little economic or. How does it happen. Limited liability corporation. That creation of our economic and political. Is held exempt from many forms. Arisp. Or its risk is at least by very definition limited. While we get legislation. That attempts to make those who are most vulnerable. More and more accountable. Accountable for everything from. Well mistakes they may have made with credit cards. Just this week. We had a passage. Avenue bankruptcy at. In the united states. Which. Makes it much more difficult. Or those who have succumbed to the blandishments of credit card companies offering. Cheap and easy credit. The ever. Extricate themselves. From jets. Eve. If. Those additional deaths. Makeup and taking on during a crisis brought about by family illness. Or other catastrophe. I think you can probably think of a number of other examples yourself. Where risk. Spread. To those. Who have less power. Unless. Wall. Those who have the most. Seem to be the most. Most of the elliptical cloud resources. Same to increasing. The most. Protective. Rabbi jesus and one of his more realistic statements that i've quoted several times. My own. Mount preaching. Once said. That. Those. Who have. Much. Even more shall be given to them. And those who have little. Even the little that they have will be taken away from them. I do not believe that he was approving. This obvious. State of affairs but simply making an observation. About how the world all too often. Particularly in the absence. Of that. Justice. Compassion. Which is the continuous. Of the tradition in which. When it comes to analyzing the politics of social security then. It seems to me that it should not be surprising. That many of the nation's religiously. Iracing. Great question. About. To attempt. Saul. At the very minimum we would like to see more evidence. That this shift of risk. Actually does anything. The song. The intergenerational. Problem. The future income spray. Social. Many of us have no objection by the way. The idea of creating individual tax benefited. Accounts. As a don. The social. That would allow young people. To accumulate more savings. Awkward there. Eventual retirement. And to begin doing so earlier in life. My own children i've certainly of with. Pointed out. The present. Actually allows people below a certain. I'll to the doc. To an individual. Retirement account. And. Put that money away. I've tried to help. Do that. Point out to them. How what grade advantage is there are. Problems in our society that determine greenspan of the federal reserve alluded to when he. Spoke on this matter before the congress. What's better savings rate. Overall. Just become alarmingly low. And therefore we could become tremendously dependent on inflows of foreign capital. Rather than the investment of our own capital. In our economy. We do need. Do something. Promote personal savings. But i wonder whether that needs to be done. By taking portions of the guaranteed income. Presently available through social insurance. Or whether it wouldn't be more prudent. Enter proposal like that that's been brought forward by congressman harold ford of memphis. Who talks about. Benefiting the lower-middle-class primarily through add-on. Personal accounts. That like the tax benefited iras. Would allow people. Both put money in. With. Some tax benefits. And then have it protect. Backstage. Those things it seems to me. I'll make a good deal of sense. Interesting our proposals to actually endow every child born in america. With a small savings account. I provided. Through. For the government. You may recall that that idea actually first emerged on the american political scene. During the administration of richard nixon. When it was suggested. That there be. Kind of reversal. Of the taxes. That would benefit every trial. This is not unlike by the way what happens. And many other advanced. Industrial democracies. Eyewear there are. Economic child benefit. We've done it from mendes job with social security in our country. And helping to. Radically reduce the rate of poverty among the old. It is perhaps the single most effective anti-poverty program. That america ever came up. We have. You were elders. Living below the poverty line. Western and 1st. I'm finished any time in our history. And we have done a remarkable job. Making. Life. At least minimally safe. For the vast majority of our elders. I would hate this. That. For my children. Or. Or. Our society. I would like. Do a better job. Analyze. How we destroy. Home. Are ring. Disregard. Fit into an overall pattern. Without i think i'll close my remarks and invite. Your own observations. Particularly i'm interested in the question. Given the fact that there does seem to be. An ultimate income. And benefit problem. With social security. How do you think. Present policies. Regard to social. Already. Should be modified. In order to bring it. I bite your questions in your comments. Francis of the christian science monitor who's their financial rider. Says. Procrastination is the cure. And i have the article it's magnificent about saying. 10 years ago. They thought. That didn't 42. 2042 it would go by now they are saying 2052 already. And goes on in. Says. This. Just what you said that there's nothing in there that alters the problem the problem he says is medicaid. And medicare and so forth. Which is the result of innovations in medicine and so forth and don't think of them together. That the only difficulty with that solution it seems to me is that it does rely on the assumption that they're going to be continued increases in productivity. Overall in the economy. We've had a enormous bump up in productivity. In the american economy that was really brought about by the. Hi-tech revolution. It's given us some enormous advantage. Whether we can count on another bump up in productivity. Push off. The problematic date. Even further or not seems to me to be at least debatable. That's that certainly is the case. Part of the problem of course with the social security system is is created by longevity but. Part of the solution. May why there is well if people are indeed willing. I'm too. Do what seems to be an increasing pattern. Continue to work. Ask what has been traditional retirement date. Myself happen to belong to the preacher until you drop school of ministry. Where i can't quite imagine it ever. Fully retiring. From what is. Formal essay a job. Then a real vocation. But i know that that's not true for everyone certainly. One of the things that has changed. Is that. When social security was created in the 1930s. It was seen as an opportunity for people. To retire from what was often. Dangerous and back-breaking. Weather on farms. Coal mines are in factories. And today the proportion of our workforce. Engaged. Demanding. Work. Smaller and smaller more and more of us arguing. What's my. Described as. Meaning making. That is involved. Creation of cultural artifacts. Don't order another. Innovation. Technology. So. Many people. Dwell. To put off. Already i'm one of the people who'll be subject. 2. Light the way. That was built in. Then. The gap. Was saul. By doing. Two things. Putting in a very modest. Creep up. The retirement. I will be a little. For full retirement. 6. And i believe that it actually will go up. People somewhat younger than myself. Close to. Formula. Advanced it by a month. There was also a modest increase. X-ray. As well as in the. Of the amount of income. I know i've always felt it. During that period the social security. The maximum amount of income. That was subject to social security tax. Was fixed at my salary. No matter what it was. God forbid that i should have a tax-free dollars. Those of us who. Get a right answer. Borderline always took note of that. Today. One of the proposal. The president has indicated he wouldn't be entirely opposed. Would be to make. Some income above $90,000. A subject. Perhaps at a somewhat lower rate. Perhaps. Alright. In any case. 2. In effect. Do what has been. Built into the cyst. From the beginning. Allow those. Benefited from our economy. To a greater degree. How to contribute to us. Admittedly. Redistributes income. Both from. Secure. Ss. And from one generation. Of course one of the reasons i believe behind the. The privatization. Is simply an idiot logical. Philosophical. Opposition. In some circles. Any scheme. That involves. Indian washington one of the most influential think-tank. Of a cato institute. Which is generally libertarian. Maintains what is known as the dependents. Index. They began this during the welfare reform. When one of their goals was to reduce the number of people. On government subsidies. Aids to families with. Which is now as you might know. Been eliminated. It was. An amendment. For the social security act. But that portion has already been. Transfer to the states. And eliminate. The cato institute. Hopes to see. All dependency on government funds. Buy individual. Lemonade. I think this will come as a rude shock. To those of us. You have. Disabled. Relatives. Who's. Sole income maybe from social security disability income. Or who have thought about. As a name. Insurance. They've beginning a logical goal. I'm having everyone. Be an owner. I think there's some advantages of things like homeownership. That tangible. Airport. Responsible. Differences. Between that and the ownership of intangible. Nonetheless. If the goal is to. Promote ownership. One of the. One of the real question. But i have. With whether we aren't moving in the direction that seems to me. Profoundly conservative. Everybody being simply. Or themselves. Rather than conserving. Ascent. Communal mutual care. Would frankly i assoc. With our whole religious. Culture. Jim wallis raises up the question in his book. When did jesus start to favor the rich. When did it become in american society. The position. Of people. Invoke. The biblical tradition. That those who have wealth. Should be protected. Well those. Who are most vulnerable in heavily. To be accountable. For every mistake. Investment. Or. Help. Goodnight anderson. I heard. Illusion bateswood on. On npr. About. The system in great britain. For the most part what i've heard is that. People endorsed it. Enthusiastically and now they're bailing out. And yet i've never heard or seen. Something in terms. What the situation is over there why. What's happening since there is a country. That has been doing that why we haven't. Ardmore. And the second thing. Isn't hummus of. Evening out. Not closing the gap that's not going to do it but. It would be interesting to see what would happen if. If minimum wage. Legislation that were accepted across the country what that would do. To the money that's brought in for social security. Anybody who's ever invested. Money at all knows that one of the things that becomes problematic with a lot of. Small accounts. Is the maintenance fee. Associated with. And in britain where they converted. The state pension. Do private accounts. Indeed one of the things that many people. Worst surprise. Discover. Was how much of their savings. Beating up fight management. Some calculations. Indicate. What eats a 30%. Of the expected savings. In those personal accounts was. The same thing seems to have happened in chile. Where of the. During the. Pinochet. Divisive. Milton friedman. For the free market. Economist. They states pension. Again the cost of the management cost. We here relatively little. About. And until the first there is actually. Specific proposal. That is. Draft legislation. It becomes almost impossible. How to. To judge exactly what the. Worth watching. We have said. That. It looks as though a lot of people are going to work until there. 87. However i say another. Aspect of this. 9 children and their spouses. Back to retire when they're 50 or. And they also represent. Demographic. Play sent this because they're not going to be paying into any. Social security. A retired we expect i'll be retired before we. At the. Present right. And. I think that has to be taken into consideration that they're not a big exception. Are among the people. Who have. Fortunately done very well at a young age. And. There are a lot of them. And what they'll do after age 50 or. I don't know but they're not going to be contributing. You're welcome. That's a very interesting observation linda and it raises the question for me about why we. Rule out of court. That's some of the future gap. Between social security tax. And social security promise benefits. Could not be made up. General tax revenues. Perhaps not all of it. That might not be the the wise. A combination. Some modification. Retirement. Recognizing. Greater longevity. Subjecting more of. Higher-income. During one's working. To the social. And the dedication of some future general revenue. In addition to social security tax. To the maintenance. Of the other system at least during the period when the later baby boomer. Are creating the greatest. A strain on the. Those three things. Combined with one another i suspect. Would do far more. The solve a problem that's. Then. Anything having to do. First the other great danger with personal accounts that we haven't talked about is the one that's determined greenspan.. Considerable length. Before the congress. And said that they administration head. Very cautious. It would add roughly 2 trillion dollars. The unfunded. Government liability. Art national debt. Has. During the 1980s. Then again. During the last. 5 years. Gone up. At a remarkable rate that constitutes another intergenerational burden. The reasons for doing that or combination of. War on terrorism. War abroad. Tax cuts. Just. The addition of 2 trillion dollars. Present. Trojan plus. Might not. The market. Into driving in. Braids up. Sherman greenspan said that he has no way of knowing. Whether the markets have already factored in. This unfunded liability. Or whether they would in fact. Encounter. Something of a shock. If the government. Five instituting personal account. Suddenly put on. The unfunded liabilities. Social. Obviously a spike in interest rate. Has. Freakonomics. On everything from home mortgage rates. To vote. Rather. Ordinary credit card rates. Why behind the. People who are now. Not granted any bankruptcy. So again there becomes a question of what. Immoral. Arrest i was quite struck by the fact that you're. Generally supports. Personal accounts. General lee from up. Mark idiot logical. You. Even he was being very cautionary. Very cautious about the. Potential impact. Of adding that much. Ellen. There's an effect that i haven't heard a lot of people talk about which is the spike of money is going to go into the stock market. Woody's unfunded. And i wonder if there's any. I'm trying not to make this a rhetorical question but in the past would have that money for those up or down. I know. My. Dublin's in the stock market. Without a large amount of. Knowledge is not working baby that's all taken out by the fund managers i'm not sure. This you might think of this as a way. 2. On the rich-poor. Well this certainly i think that's one of those one of the arguments in favor of of the. Personal account system. Yes that it would have a stimulating effect. On the equity markets. Generally anytime you have people putting more money into a market. Certainly going to. Going to have of appositive. And one of the reasons i suspect behind that is that there's some nervousness. About how much. The capital investment in the united states. Is currently coming from. As of our dollar weekend. Because we failed to come to terms with. Trade deficit. Or with our overall fiscal deficit. The willingness of of foreigner. To float the death of the united states. Become weaker. And weaker. I just this past week. You may have noticed there was a bit of a. Dropping the stock market. Gwen. The other. The prime minister of japan. Made some remarks. Syndicated. Perhaps the banks. East asia. I would do well. The shift more of their reserve currency. To the euro. And away from the dollar. All of these things. Interplay with one another. And i can't help but think. That one reason behind the other personal accounts. Proposal. Has to do with the fact that we are failing to. Determine. With the investment issues. Might be approached in other ways. Not the least. How to make sure that the general balance. Between income and outgo. Barack obama. With more prudent. And that are our trade policies. We're not. That we were. Constantly. Deficit. With regard to the red. Well. I worried about how a proliferation. Of small account. With fairly significant management. Unlikely. To outperform. The market. Something very rare in. What. Those. The mass accounts that would be created. For this system. I think would generally not perform all that well. And what that does is you are pointing out this however is it it does help to float the boat of the larger. Equity holders. Who can take greater risks. And again greater benefit. I was think about you know. Nonprofit investment. Why when i was. The serving as president of our denomination. I saw how true it was that if you had. $1000000 in an investment account your fees. Would be. X. And your potential. Benefit your risks. Modest. I'm currently treasurer of a small seminary. Which has a very modest and diamond. Our return on that modest and domino's not very great for chicken willie compared to say the endowment of harvard university. Why does harvard manage to make such huge returns not only because their investment managers are smart. And adroit. But because the more you have. The greater risk. You can take for greater return. And the smaller your management. These are. So again. The proliferation of small account. I think will not benefit the small account. I believe what you were implying. As it will benefit. Those who hold. Much larger and riskier positions. In the general equity. Early on in your presentation you said something about participants could put 4% into the. Until they private account. 4 percenter. Or the social security. Is. Now is 12 point. Free 5% is that right. It's. What's between. The employer. And the employee. Under the proposal that is. Most prevalent currently i believe it is the. Instead of paying six-point something for scent and social security tax. You would pay to point something. Social security taxes and up to the remaining 4%. You could rule. The government. Allowed to be placed in a personal. Held. And as president frequently says in his. Beaches on the sub. Pass on to your heirs. This i think is actually one of those. Sales point. For people who. Mmm lower-middle-class city. Otherwise. Don't see much. Leaving there. Other questions. My insurance agent for years has told me that you died within for 28 years. Of your retirement. Genuinely retired program. Whether it be that you are 40 years of age or 50 or 60 or 70. Always kept me going. The other thing is. My work deals primarily with people 7295 years of age. 15 touch clients a week. Within 5 mi of this building. Free local common. Majority of whom. 12 $1,800 a month for the rest of your life after. 55 and a half i'm at the 65 and a half. 65 november. So if i want to do that i can do that. The reality is. Majority of those folks that i made are collecting 400 to $650 a month. that is their total income they are living in subsidized. Awesome sword. Enterprise towns around here. They get their check on the 3rd of 5th of the 10th of the month they are broke. One day later and they have maybe twenty bucks to buy their groceries. Golden ox check. Thank god for something called social security cuz i can't imagine. To me being a raging socialist i believe in there. Community of persons and it seems to me that. In our society there's a couple percent of our people are making. Over couple hundred thousand a year. And if those folks if i understand their social security kicks in no matter what they get their money and certainly they do get there 16 or 18. Life. I think that would be a partial solution to say. Your social security. Is not paid to you if you're one of those great fortune folks who's making a couple hundred or whatever the cap might be 150 200 whatever. That there would be. Several hundred billion come back the other way over. 1023 year. if we did that and then we wouldn't be injuring those folks who have been paying social security in. And achieved american dreamin. Big dollars in big equities by the time they were 70 i would love to see something like that and then maybe allow these folks that i deal with it again 45 600 a month for everything might be getting 78 900. Which would make a huge difference in the. I want to thank that i actually worry about is the. Implication. Some of this. Libertarian approach day to everybody being responsible. Private charity. Should take off almost all responsibility. Or those who. Become vulnerable. And i worry frank. About the ability of our society. Even our church. Cinar socially. He'll begin to respond. 2 as a. Shredded. Safety. In which so many vulnerable. Are in need of. Food. Energy assist. So that their houses. Already that the man. Society on private charity. Extraordinary. Early. Well i think we have reached the hour where we should. Adjourn our discussion. I want to thank you for your participation. Pinetum lyceum is held. Most sunday morning. At the historic meeting house. First parish in needham. We welcome. Participation. Of all people. Community. We are glad that you. Unable to join us. Thank you enjoy this again next.

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20110626_Shortcuts_dont_mix_with_love_Christian_Schmidt_service.mp3

Here we have decided by side. Common step inside. Welcome. Welcome to the second service of our grand summer service experiment were very happy to see you all here. I just like to let people know if you're here visiting us for the first time you will find. A gold visitor card out on the table out there and we'd love you to fill it out and let us know your information. So that we can get in touch with you later on. Next week molly house garden will be gordon will be here at 10:30 doing the summer service preaching on free for what. And we're going to continue these summer services all through the summer with lots of good things planted some of them are. Listed on your announcements. In your order of service. And we can continually use help in setting up the summer services there is a sign-up sheet if you would like to sign up to help provide flowers and refreshments for any summer service there's a sign-up sheet on the refreshment table that you can use after. This is done. I'd like to particularly welcome kristen schmidt. Who is here preaching today and he is making his parish hall debut i think. And is going to be our intern for the next 2 years. Let us open our eyes to see what is beautiful let us open our minds to learn what is true. And let us open our hearts to love one another. Enceladus beginner service of worship. Have a story for all ages today we have a lot of ages represented. The true story. About two young boys. One of them aminati me. Call the big mess. Does a child i like. Cook a lot i still do. And i also and would make dinner for our family. Sometimes even though i mother wasn't home i always called her permission to horry. People knew what was going on. And one day i decided i wanted to make. Chocolate chip cookies. I never made chocolate chip cookies i had eaten a lot of chocolate chip cookies but i've never made them. But i knew where the recipe book was. I knew where the ingredients were. I know where the cookie sheet was i knew how to turn on the oven. I didn't know the difference between baking soda and baking powder however. Which will turn out to be important. So i got down the recipe book and i looked it up and we had. Almost every ingredient. We have baking soda no baking powder but. They both have baking in them. I should have surely respond right. Recipes that use margarine. All we had was butter. That should be fine i knew that those were pretty much the same thing. And i decided that if one cup of sugar was good. Three would be even better. My friend daniel just went along with this not knowing what to make of it i don't think. I also decided that we didn't have that much time so we could cook them in a little higher temperature for less time and it would be fine to write i knew this even would work. And so course we started to make cookies. Mixing the ingredients together. Making a great mess throughout the kitchen. Flower everywhere. Traces of butter along the counter. Who knows what in my hair and face probably. And we put the cookies in. And. We made. Dust bunnies pretty much they were not very good cookies they were hard. And chewy at the same time in a really strange way and grainy and. And very very flat. And very large. But not in any good way. Not like a cookie sheet. Not like those great big cookies you get letter letter okay. These were not good cookies. My mother choked on down when she got home. To be nice to me i think and then talked about the difference between baking soda and baking powder. Which i still can't remember i have to look it up every time if you want to said i know you can substitute one for the other but i can never remember the ratio. I have to look it up. So this is a story about. Taking shortcuts. And doing things a little bit differently than maybe the best way they should be done. Sometimes it turns out okay. And sometimes you have cookies that taste like they're made of rocks. And it's a fitting story for today. As i hope i'll say a little more about that later. In the meantime i hope you will rise and join with me. And singing. Guide my feet i'll teach it to you if you don't know what you don't need hymnals. We're doing everything acapella and with no notes today. So be brave and join me. The traditional song spiritual called guide my feet. We'll go through it line by line and then we'll sing it all together. First line is guide my feet while i run this race. Guide my feet while i run this race. God my feet while i run this race. God my feet. While i run this race. I feel while i run this race. Guide my feet while i run this race. My feet while i run this race before i don't want to run this race in vain. I don't want to run this race in vain. Sing it all now. God my feet while i run this race before i don't want to run this race in vain. So you can substitute the first line with other words it's called a zipper song. Who sing hold my hand. While i run this race. Hold my hand while i run this race. My hands while i run this race for i don't want to run this race in vain stand by me. Stand by me while i run this race before i don't want to run. God my feet while i run this race. My feet while i run this race. While i run this race for to run this race in vain. Please be seated thank you. I arrived back in boston. Fairly late last night. From the attorney universal associations general assembly the 50th such general assembly. This year was in charlotte's i had a wonderful week. Actually still ongoing right now they're worshiping just as we are. There's just about 3900 more of them in the building there and then there are here. But they're with us in spirit. This morning's first reading. Comes from the ateneo versus hymnal singing the living tradition. By marge piercy. Titled to be of use. I want to be with people. Who is submerged in the task. To go into the fields to harvest. And work in a row. And passed the bags along. Who stands in the line. And hall and their places. Who are not parlor generals and field deserters. But move in a common rhythm. When the food must come in. Or the fire be put out. The work. Of the world. Is common as mud. Botched. It's mirrors the hands. And crumbles to dust. But the thing worth doing well done. Has a shape. A shape that satisfies. Clean. And evidence. Greek in flores for wine or oil. Hopi vases that held corn. Are putting museums. But you know they were made. To be used. The pitcher cries for water to carry. And a person. For work. That is real. So as i'm the intern minister here for the next two years you'll learn a few things about me. I'll do those out over time so it's not overwhelming. But the one i'll tell you today is that i'm from texas. And in texas we have a number of churches which i have a little bit of familiarity with. Of the church of christ tradition. It's not united church of christ by the way. Church of christ they're a little different. Church of christ in severi. Very conservative theologically. Socially. And even it turns out liturgically. They don't believe in instruments. Or rather they think they exist i mean they believe they exist but. But not that we should use them in worship. The only instrument they say. That was made by god. Is the human voice. I don't get worried i'm not meeting any theological statement that i think we should never use pianos today just because we're not. But i thought it is a good thing sometimes to singing community acapella. Just our voices blending together. And in that spirit i hope you'll rise and join me in our second ham. There is more love. This too is what's known as a zipper song. There is one word in the first line that can be replaced with various words. So it's very easy to learn and sing many versus really an endless supply. Will only sing a few today. And i'll sing it line-by-line like weed. There is a small song. There is small. Psalm 1. I'm going to keep funding. I'm going to keep until i find it. There is no. So. There is no joy instead of love. There is more. Please be seated thank you so much. Have a lot of great singers out there i can smell. Our second reading this morning. From the book breathing space. A spiritual journey. In the south bronx. Buy a lutheran pastor named heidi newmark. The most important lesson i learned on johns island. Was from miceli. Who lives miles down a small dirt road. In a one-room wooden home. I love. To visit her. Weed sitting old rocking chairs on the front porch. Drinking tall glasses of sweet tea while she tell me stories. Miss ellie had a friend named netta. From she'd known since they were small girls. In order to get to nana's house. Miss ellie had to walk 4 miles. Through fields of tall grass. This was the sweetgrass that sea island women make famous baskets out of. But it was also home to numerous poisonous snakes. Coral snakes. Rattlesnakes. Water moccasin. Copperheads. Actually noticed home was not that far from miceli's place. But there was a stream that cut across the fields. You had to walk quite a distance to get to the place where it narrowed enough. Surpass. I admired miceli. Who would set off to visit her friend full of bouncy enthusiasm. With no worries for the snakes. Or the long miles. I also felt sorry for her. Poor miss ellie i thought. Old and arthritic. Having to walk all that way. Pushing through the sit the thick. Summer heat. Not to mention the snakes. I felt sorry. Until i hit upon the perfect plan. I arranged some men to help build a simple plank bridge. Across the stream near miceli's house. I scouted out the ideal place. Not too wide. But to dietz across. I bought and helped carry the planks there myself. Our bridge was built in a day. I was so excited that i could hardly wait to see miss ellie's reaction. I went to her house. Or she wanted to sit in her rocker and tell stories. But i was too impatient with my project. I practically dragged her off with me. Look i shouted. A shortcut. For you to visit nada. Roselli's space to not register. The grateful happy look i expected. There was no smile. No jumping the sky. Instead for a long time she looked puzzled. And then she shook her head. And looked at me as though i were the one who needed pity. Child i don't need a shortcut. And she told me about all the friends. She kept up with on her way to visit nada. A shortcut. Would cut her off from mr. jenkins. With whom she always swap gossip. From miss hunter who's so looked forward to the quilt scrap she'd bring by. From the raisin wine she tasted one place. In exchange for her biscuits. And the chance to look in on the old folks. Folks even older than miceli. Who were sick. Child. Can't take shortcuts. If you want friends in this world. Shortcuts. Don't mix with love. Her wisdom washed over my hot embarrassment like cool spring water. And we went back for some sweet tea. Each week this church takes a collection. For the furthering of its mission both in these walls. And in the larger community. I asked you to be generous. And support of that mission today as we take up the offering. Give freely. Boric acid. All the time please. This precious. Floral gathered here. With love. Give thanks. These gifts. Given freely in service and in love. When you take shortcuts. You missed out on love. Hey man that's silly. These words from maselli an elderly woman on those carolina islands. I made that several mile walk through the tall grass. Past the poisonous snakes. On her unsteady legs. Why. Go see her friend. Or rather that she said. Her friends. Miss ellie always took the long way. Didn't have any interest in taking a shortcut. So it's oversimplifying. I'll do it anyway. Are universalist. Are universalists heritage teaches us that god's love is greater than any faults. Any evil that exists. That love is more powerful than anything that can oppose it. Love is the greatest power. But just because love might be irresistible. Doesn't mean we won't do our best to resist it does it. I do silly little things. Say the wrong thing to the wrong thing. Things we would never do. If we took time to think about it. We were a little more careful. If we were willing to go the long way and not take shortcuts. Cuz that's the problem really. Not so much doing a little wrong thing. So then we want magic fixes for those problems that we created. We want to take shortcuts. Instead of making sustainable solutions for our problems. We wait for the next great scientific breakthrough. To fix the environment. Instead of speaking directly to the people we've hurts. Or the people who have hurt us. We complain to someone else. Hoping they might be willing for some reason to take on the problem. I'm fixing things. As i said i spent most of the past week in charlotte north carolina. What john and molly. And about 4,000 of our other closest you you friends. For general assembly. The 50th gathering of the unitarian universalist association. I agreed to serve on the right relationship team. The volunteer position. And you might ask yourself what right relationship team means. I certainly did. For one thing it means i wear a neon green ribbon so everyone knows who i am. All 4000 unitarian universalist. The other thing it means is that i'm concerned that we treat each other the way we should. And 14 thousand people are together. 4000 people with a lot of thoughts and opinions. Some feathers get ruffled. Not through maliciousness usually. But through this little mistakes. So the right relationship team is there so the people have someone they can go talk to. 90% of my job that's right relationship team. Was to encourage people who came and spoke to me. To speak to the person who defended them. Directly to use direct communication. The other 10%. Being willing to go with them if they needed help doing that. We believe the wrecks honest open communication the kind that starts deep real conversation about our differences. Is the best hope we have. For right relationship for being with each other the way we want to be. And beautiful glorious community. And it works. Stop perfect. It doesn't solve every issue. But it works. The most powerful moment of the last week for me. Was when a woman named lynn came up to me. She didn't have a problem. Not anymore. She came up to me and said. I spoke to another member of your team this morning. And she asked me. To come talk to you again after i have done something. And so she came to me. She said i was out of workshop this morning. Or somebody said something that hurt me. I didn't think it was right. And i went to a member of the right relationship team name alyssa. Melissa told her. Perhaps you should go talk to that person. And tell them that what they said hurt you. And she did. Took a little convincing. She needed a little urging. It can be difficult to talk to people who have hurt us. For obvious reason. But she went she spoke to that presenter. And she had a wonderful conversation. The woman apologized she said she had said that off-the-cuff. Hadn't really meant it hadn't thought about it it wasn't in her script for the workshop. And i had a real conversation they talk they broke through they had a wonderful time. And lynn had such a good experience that she came to me. To tell me about it. She said moreover. But when the right relationship team had introduced itself at the first large gathering of the week. She thought it was a little silly. How could you use being together. Need anybody to help them being right relationship. Maybe she knows some different you use than i do. But she thought if we can't solve our own problems then what are we doing. She's now a firm believer in the right relationship team. I hope the converter to a member of it perhaps one day. She said that it's the hardest thing to do direct communication. It's both the easiest and the hardest thing week. Easy because it's so obvious. Hard because well. It's very very difficult to do. I think this is a good metaphor for a larger issue. Because right relationships aren't just about making sure that 4000 unitarian universalist can be in the same building at the same time. Without killing each other. That's just. Start. And i'm guessing unfortunately that even that. Somewhat difficult task. Will be much easier than the next one. Indeed the one we are already working on. Because another events of the week. Was a demonstration. More than 2,000 people attended. Sponsored by standing on the side of love. We went and had a rally. To oppose an amendment in north carolina. That would prevent. Marriage inclusion. That would prevent gay lesbians. From being married. The cement hasn't passed yet. And we hope it won't. But it seems like it probably will. That's just one instance of us taking a stand about what we believe right relationships in the larger world look like to. The way all of us all of us on this planet. Should be treating each other. Great minister writer. And sinker of universalism. Are one of them i should say. Clarence skinner. Said something about this many years ago. He was among the first. The firmly theologically articulate. The importance of social justice to our faith. He said this. The agape. Which means love. Of the early christians. With its warm personal intimacy. Will be supplanted by something more formal and organized. Perhaps it will be implemented by governments. Andy runners insurance city planning compulsory health measures. Etc. Perhaps it will retain certain qualities of the voluntary system. As in our cooperative societies. Whatever it shall be. It must adopt the principles of responsibility for all men's welfare. Pretty sure clarence menthol people that will forgive him for his time. It will recognize the solidarity of the human race and c2 of the terrible burden of poverty. Shelby lifted from the shoulders of all. People not men. They cannot endure world half starving. 3:30. It must recognize the supreme facts. Of the unity's and the universal. And this brings me back. We can't take shortcut. We have to make a world where all people are valued. And we're all have a chance of the great life. We cannot endure a world where some are starving. And some free. This may seem like a daunting task. Anyone a little daunted. So what about those times when we don't want to go on and that shortcuts teams. Seems like the only reasonable way to go. I think about a certain movie from the 80s. I hope you're laughing here which one. Call the terminator perhaps you've heard of it. If you haven't it's okay i'll give you a synopsis. In the future. The not very distant future now. Machines take over the world. And they don't like us. The computers. And their minion robots are trying to kill every human being so that they have full dominion over the world. The dark. Science fiction started dystopia hair. But there's good news there's a small band of humans who have survived the war and are still fighting the good fight. They're led by a man named john. Connor. Now it turns out. That if you're of computer. And you're fighting humans. And you can't think of any other way to write out these last few you come up with a brilliant idea. Nusenda cyborg named arnold schwarzenegger. Back in time. To kill john connor the leader of the resistance it's sort of a beautiful idea writing you know. Why not in fact not even kill him go kill his mother so he doesn't even have a chance to be. It's sort of a brilliant solution right i mean in sunway. Assuming you can send someone back in time 30 years. So. The terminator. Arnold schwarzenegger. Is sent back in time to kill sarah connor. So with me. The human resistance finds out about this and sends their own while you're back. To protect sarah connor. And hopefully to kill the terminator. Is a guy named kyle reese. If you forget the name it's okay. Moreover. Kyle had a message from john that he was supposed to give john's mother sarah. Back in time. And that's where i'm going with this the message is the important part today. Go rent a movie later. It's really good. This is john's message. From 30 years in the future to his mother who is not yet even given birth to. Thank you sarah. For your courage through the dark years. I can't help you with what you must soon face. Except to say that the future is not set. You must be stronger. Then you imagine you can be. You must survive. Or i will never exist. I'll say one more time. Thank you sarah. For your courage through the dark years. I can't help you with what you must soon face. Except to say that the future is not set. You must be stronger than you imagine you can be. You must survive. Or i will never exist. From the first time i saw this movie i wondered about this. What does this message really mean to sarah. Does the fact that someone told her what her future was like. Or could be like. Give her the strength to make that come true. Or does she already have it in her. Or both true. I'd like to think so. I think that knowing the future knowing what's possible. Can give us the strength. The power of the will to make it come true. So today. I'm going to tell you the future. I didn't get this from anybody sent back in time. But i mean it. I believe it. I can see it. This is it. In the future no one has to worry where their next meal comes from. Because there is food for everyone. In the future all people are valued for the unique. Wonderful beings that they are. Celebrated both for their glorious diversity. And for their shared identity as humans as creatures deserving of love and of life and joy. In the future. Our world is healthy. Pollution only a distant memory. In the future all people live lies with dignity grace and love. All relationships are valued. And we treat each other with respect. With kindness. And compassion. And this is no science fiction tell my friends. This can be the reality. But we won't get there by taking shortcuts. There are no magical fixes. No harry potter spells we can use. It will take hard work. And real commitment. And the courage of our convictions. And a whole lot more to. But my friends. I've seen the future. And i know we can get there together. And lots of people say aw man. Please rise and join with me. And singing our final him today we give thanks. So it has just a couple more words than the other two we did stay but we'll do it the same way it'll be great it's beautiful song. We give thanks. Call this precious day. Oh we give thanks for this precious day. For all. All this time we share. Who is. We give thanks. One more time. Call this precious.. But friends have seen the future. And we will get together there. But we can't take shortcuts. And we have to have the courage of our convictions. So let us go forth from this place. Our worship has ended. Our service begins. Go in peace.

uuneedham_org

20110123_between_choice_and_no_choice_john_sermon.mp3

Last week i had great fun exchanging pulpits with my colleague kristen harper from the. Unitarian church in barnstable on the cape. Giving you a chance to hear one of those relatively few african-american women ministers in our movement. And giving me a chance to. Visit one of the congregations in massachusetts that i've never preached that before. New england. This. Exchanging designed to let congregations hear different viewpoints. According to legend in the furley. Years after the american revolution a calvinist. Who preached predestination. Once exchange pulpit with a liberal. Who was preaching free will. And although they hadn't planned to do so they met one another on the road back to one another's homes. You see it was predestined. That we would meet here like this. The liberal replied. Brother. There are only two roads between our meeting house. I chose the one i thought you take so that we might meet. And shows it freely. Noticed that in the story they're only two roads not 1,000. And often that's the case in life. That the choices that lie between before us. Are not numerous. I think about women composers. Who's music we're hearing this morning. Vivian conducts a women's music festival at brandeis each year in these pieces come from it. In 17th century. The choices for women. Even well-off families. We're either an arranged marriage. Or not. And if the latter. Then either the convent. Or the danger of being. Spoken of is a loose woman or worst. Isabella leonardo. Enter the convent at the age of 16. She probably has little choice in the matter. Yet within those confines. She devoted herself to writing over 200 beautiful composition. And eventually became the mother superior. Barbara scott strazzi. Who was probably the illegitimate daughter of the nobleman who adopted her. Refuse going into the convent. And published both religious and secular music. So at the cost of having jealous male composer spread the rumor. But she was never married to her children's father. But was just his kept woman. Maybe so. Maybe she had. But little choice. Morrow was like to pretend you know. That we always have choice. Historically it's liberals who pushed that point of view. Free will. Ironically it is now used more often in public debates by conservatives. Some of them claim for example the sexual orientation is just a lifestyle choice. And if not. That. One that makes only celibacy. Acceptable. But no issue more models the language of choice in our day i think then. Then of course the issue of abortion. Yesterday you may have noticed was the 38th anniversary. Of the supreme court ruling in roe versus wade. Which annually reminds me of two things. Of how the women in a congregation that i later served the first unitarian church of dallas. Where the people who raised the money. For jane.roe to challenge. The district attorney henry wade. Who tried to prosecute her. Enter doctor. For contemplating terminating for pregnancy. And it reminds me of witnessing a termination. When i was a student chaplain at mass general. Wear a 38 year-old immigrant woman. Mother of 13. Had to persuade to psychiatrist. But having left her husband because he was abusive. She feared. He might kill her. She might kill herself. And leave for children without a mother. If she had severe one more. I have no choice. And i believe. Of course cesar morales there are always choices. But these days when i workout at my gym i sometimes wear a t-shirt. From the religious coalition on reproductive choice. Which reads across my chest prophase. Pro-family. Pro-choice. And when i put it on i sometimes think to myself. How could it be otherwise. What choice do i have but to be true to what i have learned. If i am to be true. To who i am into the threads tugging at me through my own experiences. Of what it means to be. Human and compassionate in this life. Two years ago at a catholic hospital in phoenix. A dangerously ill catholic woman was told by her doctors. A baby would likely die. If her pregnancy continue. Sister carol keon who's president of the catholic health association. Says with both the woman and the hospital correctly. Applied church teaching. When they terminated that pregnancy. But the bishop revoked st.joseph's right to call itself a catholic hospital. Where to have mass celebrated in this traveler to keep consecrated elements there. And the officials at st joseph responded. Have there been some other way to save both the mother and the fetus we would have done it. We are convinced that there was not. We would do the same thing again. That is. We got no choice. Patience i think. Awesome seal that way. Especially if they want to truly choose life. Recently i read. The emperor of all maladies the biography of cancer. Find mass general physician siddhartha booker t. And compassion in 2040 he diagnosed a woman he calls carla reed. A thirty-year-old kindergarten teacher married mother-of-three. Diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Some of you may remember that my 19 year old nephew nick durance. Had a similar diagnosis. Just a couple of years before that. Survivor first round of chemotherapy. At one point in his care of her he admits he got so caught in the care of others that he failed to call her for 2 days. To tell her that her latest bone marrow biopsy was negative. When she didn't hear she concluded that he must be avoiding telling her. That the cancer was back. And she spiraled into a depression. Relieved only when he finally called her with the all-clear. Like nick thank god. Carlos survive. Go through the same heroin course of chemotherapy and stem cell transplant. On the 5th anniversary of her remission. The doctor drove to her house and brought her flowers. He asked her how she's managed. Through the long days of that. First-year. To drive to mass general from the north shore to wait hours for the blood test to be run. And then when told that her counts were too low. For her to be given chemotherapy safely. To turn back and return the next day for the same thing to be repeated. There was no choice. Carlos. Motioning unconsciously. To the room where her children were playing. My friends often asked me whether i felt as if my life was somehow made abnormal. By my disease. I would tell them the same thing. For someone who is sick. This is the new normal. I heard similar words from gwen lorimer's cara. When i visited them in the hospital. Just this week. When nick was recovering he distracted himself by doing drawings and designs. Laptop computer. Now thank god he's about to earn a graduate degree in architecture. Responding to a vocational thread that begins its hug at him. When he was ill. No doubt he could have made other choices. Sometimes in our consumer society we we can find the range of possible choices nearly overwhelming. Everett immigrants. From the former soviet union military personnel returning from combat tours overseas. Describe becoming absolutely paralyzed. Standing in the aisles of an ordinary grocery store. But in other ways. Perhaps we don't have as many choices. As we like to think we do. Existentially i think both three philosophers albert camus. And the scriptures. As i read them this morning have it about right the ultimate choices between license good. Stephanie. So choose life. Trying to do so however is never. Simple. Or easy. We can easily feel tied down by many gossamer threads of. Of habits. Not all of them good or life-enhancing. By our fears. Our obsessions are ties to lesser goods and lesser gods. Which is why the biblical tradition warns against what it called idolatry the practice of worshipping some near part of life. In place of a hole. In place of. The greatest good. Including the good of others. As well as ourselves. Taking life is life more abundant not just for oneself. But also for those we share it with. For everyone. Has the poet testifies both as a matter of following. The thread of life itself and breaking. Thigh. Free oneself from fear. And following the sister of wonder. Ingratitude. That's how good and gracious life can be when we are fully alive or where. Yes and grateful. We live our lives another words between. Real choice and no choice at all. When i was a minister in new york city. Ministering to lots and lots of. The people who are most missing here. That is young adults. Between the ages of 18 and 35. I found myself doing something even i found odd in my counseling. Since deep meaning in life as freud pointed out is likely to come from an interweaving of. Living and working. And since young adulthood is when the court asks are to find both. That is to find a life partner. And a meaningful location. I found it when a young woman or man came to me and began talking about their frustrations in finding the right partner. I was likely to sit there listening and nodding and then at a certain point say. How do you feel about the work you're doing. If on the other hand they came to talk to me about their career choices their frustrations in the workplace. I'd often say. So. Because frustration in one area iphone. Could mask evasion. A real choices available in the other. One of my council he's in that are made a present for me that was a a cross-stitch tomorrow that i used to have hanging in my study that simply red. Tracy. She said it symbolized. What i've helped her with. As i grew older however. I took that model down. I put it. In the closet. Today of course i minister. And what i sometimes called lush tropical suburbio. And mostly to people. Whose early life choices. Were made sometime ago. Not that marriages don't sometimes end. And careers as well. And required new efforts. At discerning and making choices when the range of available choice. May seem. More confined. So here's what i most want to say to you. If you are in a frustrating situation. Where you think you have no choice. Feel free to choose to come and talk with me about it. For tamale. Thinking a little bit more deeply. Even prayerfully. Together. We may be able to find that underneath it all. There is a thread of choice. And if you are facing a difficult choice or choices. But seem overwhelming. For filled with fear. Then come talk to us as well. It's just possible that together. Prayerfully. We might discover that if you let go of this year. And follow the thread of face that uses life and life more abundantly. You may really have no choice. If you want that life more abundant. It can be hard to be great. For world in which we have to do. So much choosing. In which life is not all mapped out or predestined. A world in which we face choices when we don't want to make them. When nice carrots. And the world when we sometimes have no choice at all when we want to choose life. A world when it can be hard. To know when to let go. But in our theologies the facts with the creation is ongoing. That the world we seek. Is incomplete. And that we do have some range of choice. Is the surest sign i know that the spirit of life is both creative and open and loving. Leaving us free. To grow into choose. So is emerson put it let's pray without ceasing. And pray for the serenity to accept those aspects of life. In which we truly have no choice. And the courage to face those in which we do. And the wisdom always. To seek. And prayerfully come to know. So maybe.

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20120429_de-installation_john_marking_the_end_nate_harrington.mp3

Before i marked the end of your ministry so we could get smarking if your mystery i have yet something else to bestow upon you hello my yes. You need not fear. I have a recognition from the house of representatives from our commonwealth of massachusetts. Beard hereby known that the house. The massachusetts house of representatives offer its sincerest congratulations to john a burin. In recognition of being a visionary leader. Compassionate listener. An advisor. Actions speak is profoundly and eloquently as his words. Our entire membership extends its very best wishes and expresses the hope for the future. Good fortune and continued success. In all your endeavors. Given this 27th day april 2012 signed by. The speaker of the house robert a deleo. And offered by our state representative denise garland. 10 years ago. This congregation voted unanimously. To call john buren's to settle with us as a 30th minister of this parish. We got her now. His ministry. You found us a people told hope and fears. You helped us fill a welcoming congregation. Appreciative of differences. Pac-man apartheid. I came to inspire. But not with a vision merely my own. Khalid. But not alone. And with gifts but only so that the gifts of all. Might be put to greater service. I have been profoundly privilege to be your pastor. I'm grateful to have taught and have learned here. Did it preached for you. And to have been supported in my own spiritual life. And in my wider service in the world. I have been honored to be your minister. But now i must ask. That you forgive me for my many failings. Release me from my duties here. And bless me for us to a new phase of life. As i do you. And so together. Let us pray.

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20120520_confessions_of_an_octogenarian_ed_lane_sermon.mp3

Play some of my perception of. Life is an octogenarian. Who will turn 84 in about a month. A paradox or perhaps. Roll. The last of life for which the first is made. And. Getting old is not for sissy. The top of my head that is. The memory is fine it's. Significant trivia. But nothing important things i want and need to remember. Does better than explaining it. What i'm about to say to you is not written in this large type yellow paper manuscript. It is something that i memorize. Some 70 years ago as a teenager. I've never seen it in writing. Do you know how to change a petunia. Petunia is a flower like a begonia begonia is a meatloaf the crowd the rooster crowd in the morning made a loud noise noise in december the face between the eyes eyes are opposite days the horse neighs you have a little cold. But i may run into you doing social hour after this service. Somebody that i know very well and i will be able to come up with. It'll probably emerge. The next day or something. Reading is difficult. The special is a newspaper with small not very black pipe. On newsprint. Board gray than white. And my ears well i could will. If i have my hearing aids. If you were three feet away from me and facing me and speak distinctly and slowly. And if there are no other conversations going on in the room. It's a long journey and i'm only down the monday. Shall i go on. All the way down to my toes. No i don't think so better to hear church organ music than mine. I feel the paradox. Handheld will call me on this one because i said i feel it when i get down on the floor to do my morning workout. And she will say when do you do that. I need to be doing while i'm down here. Just world. I really feel that we are becoming like the dinosaur. What's 70 tons of armor played in oz of brave. Yep. The paradox is that i feel like an octogenarian candide. Torn between his naive mentor doctor pandora. Who is love nuts in montreux all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. Hello voltaire's pessimistic realism. Xpress boats and candida from the lisbon earthquake. An inquiry into the maximum whatever is is right. What are the octogenarian paradox. Is my excitement and joy. Update. Computer-driven asian its gift of information. Incapacity for outreach. But the downside is my technological handicap. Some examples. My first computer used to periodically. Scream at me. I wanted to punch it in the screen. Today mike refuses to do things the way i want him to do them. Also for the illusion that i'm in charge of his mission is to serve me. He's program. He doesn't do the my way. Liberates music. But he's a benevolent despot. When i'm fighting with mike i'm moan and groan to helen that i was born 100 years too late that i don't fit in this technological age. But then my sixteen-year-old granddaughter comes along and solves my problem so easily and so quickly. Bartram follow what you telling me to do and i think i was born instead a hundred years too soon. With a houseman. I find myself a stranger and afraid. In a world i never made. Even in these octogenarian use. Mark sermon 63 years ago. I eventually went to electrics and then 22 ibm selectric. Sitting on my worktable side-by-side. If our gorgon say i took the initiative in creating the internet. Unclaimed. Can i have the evidence to prove it. I'd be typing on once electric. I can go to my sermon files old sermons. And find many of them. Together to create the finished product. No the computer enables me to write. Reply. Creating easier and i hope better results and everything i write. And that's spellchecker catches many typos that i used to miss. And be embarrassed when the sermon got printed. Courses spell checker can sometimes backfire. I was for a timely. Epidural retired. And i wrote an article for the down on the creek. What's a retired. Only i mistyped it creative side young award. And then there's a research. I worship at the altar of the big g. Not god google. Some of you may have attended one of the electric discussions courses i've given here. In the process of writing those. For each one on google. And then put those together drawing drawn those i research to create the final document. I retired from active ministry in 1996. Google was founded in 1997. How did. 47 years without it. Now it's one of the joys of my life. I was 49 when. 77. If all went well. It would. Eventually take its way out and swing around some of the outer planets like jupiter and then go off into outer space. In 1977 it was launched. I found the theological implications of this so exciting that i wrote a sermon on it entitled. By jove and onto outer space. Fired long argue that since our son is but one of the reasons of billions of stars. In the universe. Proclaim that ours was the only life. In the universe was both arrogant and absurd. It grew from a flawed earth-centered theology. Narcissistic. But we are you nice. The god created the whole universe just for us. Theologian seem to view the universe. The same way that warty blinkins a toad viewed it. In dawn mark was delightful parody. In the yard. Allegedly written by archie the cockroach. You may know the stories. Are cheaper the cockroach. Lunchtime 22 his lunch to work at the old new york son in the early 1900s. At least call him up on top of the typewriter. Two types of column. Just a tiny excerpt from warty blinkins. Where did lincoln's considers himself to be the center of the universe. Vera's exists to grow toadstools for him to sit under etc etc goes on and on. Centrist on the part of the creator of the universe. Why is it that you are so. Ask rather said warty blinking. What the universe has done to deserve me. If i were human i would not really laugh too complacent lead4ward abe lincoln's. For similar absurdity. I've only too often lodge. In the crinkles. Over human cerebrum. Back to voyager. Today is eight months and fifteen days since that voyager launched. It is now about 11 billion miles from the sun. I may even have the joy of still being around. When will the continuing to send back the data it will leave the solar system and enter interstellar space. Around 2014. Joseph father. But unless i can hang around for another forty thousand years. Highly unlikely. When it will encounter its first star. I will not exist universe. Love solar system not stellar system. There might be. Or life on one of us stars planets. In the beginning of the sermon i announce the mention the difficulty in reading the daily newspaper. With my octogenarian eyes. But how. For christmas a couple of years ago and now i'm like a fundamentalist. Testify. I think the thing to bed with me. And the new york times has mysteriously at 5 a.m. the next morning. I don't have to go out in the rain and show wearing my pajamas are even less. I'm worrying about being seen by the neighbors. I like it in lourdes the type. I'm luxuriate in reading the bad news. With helen peacefully sleeping by my side. Bubba others rub. Paradox. I read the god awful bad news. Stop. 10 years ago i was theme speaker for a star island week. Choosing your title. Slow the pace save the journey. A series of lectures on the philosophy of leisure. After six years of retirement i was still searching for that elusive leisure. William vision for my retirement years. It's another paradox. I live in a world full of exciting new things to do. I'm like a kid in a candy shop. I'm greedy and i can't say no. I overcome it and then feel life is too harried and hectic. I'm liking the leisure that i expected to find in retirement. I heard similar stories. From both ministerial colleagues on from. Friends from overtired from secular careers. Sometimes i think i'll return to an active ministry in order to have more leisure. Very different ways of being alone. What mozart and spoke about. The difference between solitude and loneliness. My father had a loss of hearing much more severe than mine. Then why am i hearing aids leaves much to be desired they're far better than they were enough. 1960s and early 70s. He shocked me once. When he said he would rather be blind. I asked him. How about you could be. His reply. I said in this room with my family. I can see all of you. And what you doing. It's almost like looking at a picture of you. There's no interaction no communication no being a part of each other's lives. I feel isolated and lonely he said. I could understand his point riesling. No i can understand it this early. Even more sophisticated high-tech hearing aids. Being in a room with family when everyone is chattering at once and lots of social interaction is taking place. All sit there like a bump on a log. Helen keller both deaf and blind. Had similar thoughts. Dufner she said. Is a much worse misfortune. Ford means the loss of the most vital. The sound of the voice that brings language. Set photo store and keeps us in the italy. Call schuman fellowship. Mo sartin inlet journal that a reading that i've shared with you. Concluded i've said so often that solitude. Is the richness self. And loneliness. Football videos. Paul tillich expressed it exactly as i've experienced. Language erode. Has created the word luminous. To express the pain of being alone. And the word solitude. To express the glory of being alone. I hate the lonely. Bilal of the salafi. The paradox is. Let's summer bowl. Is apart. Obey weegee. So how do we cope with all of. Paradoxes of aging. Play real. And no magic pill and not a ray wielders get from a pharmacologist. Will make them grow go away. Ella wheeler wilcox. David answer 128 years ago. Lyle she said. And the world laughs with you. We. And you're weak. Alone. Yes but there's a paradox there too. Do not dismiss the need to cry together. I don't want to say to anybody. Why don't you laugh instead of cry. Crying is just as important. Rather than the fragmentation. In the paradoxes look makeup my life is an octogenarian. Jaws. Sorrow. Lowe's. Life and death. These of the fabric of human existence. Like the yang and the year-end of ancient chinese philosophy. Or the conflict of a greek tragedy. But tensions of these forces confront us. Will the paradox of life itself. Double din space in our later years. Includes both laughter and tears. And that's the paradox. But still. I often find it better to laugh at them. About myself. Thunder crossover. Has frank hall my colleague and one of my ministerial successors in westport connecticut. Put it in a sermon getting on in years just three weeks ago. There may be nothing new under the sun said frank. But there is a possibility. Deeper understanding of life. There is a possibility. Of new or deeper appreciation of life. And there is a possibility. Obey new or deeper acceptance. Of the realities of life. Including. The inevitability. All done.

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20120304_knowledge_and_humility_john_sermon.mp3

Maybe it's my so-called retirement impending but i can't help but remembering of. Special sunday afternoon service i attended some years ago. At which my. Friend and colleague the reverend robbie wall. Was honored for his then 20 years of service to the first parish in duxbury. Down on the south shore. Lay leaders got up to say nice things about him. Former interns ministers that robbie had trained came back to save more nice things about him. I was there as the vin presidents of the denomination to say nice things about him. And finally it became robbie's turn to speak. He began. You know. My favorite cartoon character. Is in dog marlatt's kudzu. Series. The reverend will be done. I chuckled at the one in which he's umpiring and interchurch softball game and calls. Strike 81. Wall thinking. Games rom long when you play according to the unitarian. But my favorite is the one in which he decides that he needs some continuing education. So we'll enrolls in the correspondence course. In humility. At the end he goes down to the mailbox and opens the envelope containing his final grade. Yippee. I mean. O'shucks. Robbie then set down. That was it. This year i was selected to give an endowed series of three lectures lemons lectures. On what will be required for unitarian-universalism in liberal faith in general. The thrive in the. Decades in years ahead. I chose with my framework. The words of the prophet micah. What is required. But to seek justice. The practice compassion. And to walk humbly. I gave the first lecture down in boston in the fall. However unfocused the occupy movement maybe i said. They raised the justice issue. Of our time. The growing economic inequality both. Here and globally. The growing power of corporate money everywhere to distort. Real democracy. We unitarian-universalist i suggested have been pioneers. In using stockholder activism. When necessary to name and shame corporate misconduct. And to bend. We are keeping the corporate behavior a bit toward. That long arc of justice. Then i gave him the second lecture last month in in san francisco. As i spoke there were 1,000 occupy protesters out in the street in front of the church. Calling for the use of vacant public property for more affordable housing. Action out there i said reflection in here. Call mission later. All part of making. Compassion. Both real and effective injustice seeking the trouble with too many of us i suggested. Is betting calling ourselves liberal we think we are already compassionate. When in fact is karen armstrong puts it in our first parish book of the year. There are at least 12 steps to a compassionate life. The first of which is to recognize how addicted we and others are in our society. The polarisation. Reactivity. And yeah. More than a little self-righteousness. Now the third lectures when i have to give in chicago in early may. Yeah on humility. My good wife when born in that windy city. After 40 years of marriage to meet threatens to sit in the front row and whenever i utter the word humility. What is he know about it. And she's probably right. Hildegard von bingen i ain't after all. But i do think. But i can help to recognize several ways that we human beings. Fall short of authentic humility. It isn't just individual arrogance. The type we think of most often. As with fear and greed. We can see that stuff clearly and everybody else we miss it. Most often. As it appears in ourselves. Socrates about whom i taught at 9:15 this morning was a claim by the oracle of delphi. As the wisest. Of all. Humans. Because he alone seem to know just how much he did not know. As broader form of failure humility however is collective. We americans should meditate on that. Because from the point of view of many other peoples around the world it's not just that. Our freedom or prosperity has ended. That may be there. But it's also that they resent rather deeply. Are often ignorant tendency to prescribe what is good for them. Without bothering. To stop and learn and listen face-to-face about their culture. And their hopes. Just last week i had the experience of spending nine days down in the mayan highlands of guatemala with a team from this. Congregation. Listening to and learning from. People in the indigenous population this week. We built a school together. Unitarian universalist are particularly subject to this challenge collectively we are knowledgeable. We have. It is sometimes reported the highest. Average level of education of any religious group in america. Bully. Historically. I think we sometimes have used our wisdom. The manager certain humility. And here i think of all the colleges. And hospital. And nonprofits ministries voluntary association. That unitarian universalist founded all across this country without ever once putting our name or label on them. We gave them away. Because we created the. In all humility not for ourselves or our self advertisement but for the common good. So forget that our religious forbearers started harvard divinity your tufts or st. lawrence or washington or read or mgh for the nature conservancy the aclu stand on and on. Others make it put there. Sectarian labels.on institutions. While saying that they did so for the greater glory of god but we did it for the greater good of humankind. And yet are very religious naturalism and humanism. Which we have strongly espoused. Is it times. Contributed to excesses of promethean pride i think of the current effort. Inspired by tufts philosopher danieldale it dammit. 4. Agnostics or atheists. To start to refer to themselves as brights. Are you familiar with us. The implication of course is that more traditional people of faith. Are simply dim. Is the teenager i once saw in the mall had on his t-shirt narcissism. And in a culture saturated in that spiritual ailment. We should. Be wise enough to admit that we are subject to a. Probably the better educated we are. Recently one candidate for president referred to the incumbent is a snob. For suggesting that more americans should get a college education. Evidently regarding colleges is the enemy of true faith because. Growth in knowledge i guess he assumes. Will supplant authentic. Humility and wisdom. Perhaps it can. If all that education brings forth is more skills for self-aggrandizement. The real growth in knowledge it seems to me. The scientists from newton through einstein have testified. Leads to a deeper humility. If i've been able to see further said newton it's only because i've stood on the shoulders of giants. And ozark imported he compared himself. To a child. Playing on the beach. Well the great ocean of truth. Play unexplored beyonder. Feinstein said what separates me from the most so-called atheist. Is a feeling of utter humility. For the unattainable secrets. Of living in this cosmos. I think. Those of you who are wise physicians and we have more than our share. Webmd's here. Know how delicate it is to listen. To your patient. Before trying to impart your best. Most science-based advice. For their healing. Knowing all along that there may be dimensions of the problem that you you can't quite see. And the return to the world of comics charles schulz in his collection to peanuts cartoons called. And beagles and buddies shall lie down together. Has little linus. The aspiring theologian. Get a good suggestion for a book. But he is writing on theology. From his dog snoopy. Who suggest he titled it. Has it ever occurred to you that you might be wrong. For almost the entire 40 years that i've now served in ministry. I've watched as reactionary politics in our land. Cabron by mobilizing resentment. First or the changes brought about by the civil rights and women's. Then toward glbt advances. And now most recently a new polarisation seems based on race gender orientation or even class. Or religion. Then i'm blatant resentment of those who win the global economy. Have the knowledge and the education to stay afloat. While so many others are foundry. I need a beat ucf to simply call this auntie intellectualism. And to look down on people who have begun to feel this way the way hl mencken mock such folks in the 1920s calling the. Species. Homo bubus americana's. His own form of sub speciation. Inkling is that such attitudes friends will hardly make thing. Quite the contrary. Those of us who try to know the world well. Who seek. More knowledge and education for ourselves. Who try to understand the complex issues of economic and social and political and cultural. Cause and effect. Need to be prepared to wear lightly the knowledge we pretend to. Knowing that it is only partial. And that others have their profound perspective. As well. Recently a biblical commentary i was reading pointed out that in the story of the widow's mite. We heard earlier. There's no emphasis on praising that poor woman. For sacrificial giving. There's not an adjectives appraised or an adverb. Although god knows the poor people do tend to give more generously. To their religious communities. Then those who become prosperous and middle class. The real warning in the text the commentary said. It's a warning to the salt scrub satisfied learning scribes. Who threw their power and privilege. Often think of themselves better than others. I'm better than they are. And because they are learning. Often. Well at least today have. Savings. Investments. Interest out there busy earning. And maybe even helping to devour widows houses. Somewhere. Whether i know it or not. So when it comes to knowledge as socrates new. Self-knowledge is the hardest for us to acquire. Know yourself. Notis alton. It said on the outside of the. Temple of the oracle at delphi. Or is the scottish poet robbie burns put it. Would some power the giftie gie. To see ourselves. There's other seals. Predictor rights. Knowing something or somebody. Isn't the same as knowing about them. More than just information is involved. When you're an hour. You don't. Simply add to your metal store and go your way otherwise unchanged. To know fully. Is the participate in to become imbued with forbetterorforworse to be affected by. When you really know a person. Or community or language or a job. Or perspective. The knowledge becomes part of who you are. It changes you. It gets into the bloodstream. I felt that working side-by-side with people so different. Ourselves. There is a little village the mayan highlands. Presumably is why the tree of knowledge of good and evil are dangerous in the scripture. When were innocent. We know only goodness. When we are knowing. We come to know both good and evil. And how we are imbued with both. With forces that. Seek justice. And then without our knowing sometimes perpetuate injustice. With compassion. And hidden callousness. With ignorance that we all too often. Deny. In the name of pride. The only sure way i know to deal with this dilemma. Is in a sense to take continuous remedial education. In humility. Which may be the chief purpose for coming together like this week by week. And worship. Before i mystery we'd never. Entirely understand. And prayerful reflection. In meditation. Is my late colleague. The unitarian minister harry miserable unsprayed. From arrogance pompousness and thinking ourselves more important than we are met some saving sense of humor liberated. From allowing ourselves to ridicule the faith of others. May we be forgiven. For making war and calling it piece special privilege and calling it justice indifference and calling a tolerance. Pollution calling it progress. May we be cured. For telling ourselves and others that evil is inevitable. Well greater good is impossible wavey's may we stand corrected. Oh god of our mixed-up tragic aspiring doubting and insurgent lives that help us. To be as good. And as humble. In our hearts as we have always. Truly water.

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20120805_taylor_birthing_universal_human_readings_sermon.mp3

The readings for this morning if you haven't noticed by now. Are written by barbara marx hubbard. She has two books that i am basing my sermon and this morning service on. The first one is called emergence. The shift from eco to essence. And the second one is called birth 2012 and beyond. In which she speaks of her own personal experience. A single light and realizing that we are all in this together. That we are never separate. From the universal force. And that there's a huge shift taking place. And the whole world right now. And she's going to celebrate it. The day after. The mayan calendar resets itself. So on. 12:20 to 12. We're going to have a birthday. For the emergent. Universal human. The first reading. Emergence. The pregnancy prelude the beginning of it. Introduction. The emergence process is an evolutionary path. Leading to the development of ourselves as more co-creative. Universal humans. Tender cuts of steps which unfolded in my own life journey. Guide us from within. To make the fundamental shift from eco. To essence. From our egoic separated local self. To our essential spiritual self our true nature. Gradually the anxious. Falls in love with its own essence. And advice is on higher self to take the minion within the household of selves. The emergence process is designed precisely for this moment in history when we are facing two radical unknowns that we have never encountered before. One is devolution. The destruction of our own life support system. The collapse of major social systems. The suffering of billions of us as well as other species as we overpopulate. Fight. Andrick human civilization and other species towards catastrophe. Something is dying. Something is over. Behavior and unlimited growth in a finite earth. Is not sustainable. We are the generation born in the midst of the end of one phase of human evolution. The other unknown is conscious evolution. If we can learn to evolve ourselves and our social systems we see a future of immeasurable possibilities through the integration of our spiritual social & scientific technological capacities. Leading toward the emergence of a evolving co-creative humanity. With powers we use we used to attribute. To the gods. We are the first species on earth. To be aware that we can cause our own extinction. Or our own evolution. By our own actions. This is the greatest wake up call. That humanity has ever had. This is a global crisis opportunity. Pressing us toward the birth the emergence of something you something higher than we have ever been before. Or towards evolution. For destruction. The choice. Is evolve. Or die. How do we learn to evolve consciously. The best response is by studying how nature has been evolving for billions of years. From this context of billions of years of evolutionary transformation we see recurring patterns. For example we learn the crisis precedes transformation problems are evolutionary drivers. Nature has been taking jumps to a greater synergy making you whole systems out of separate parts. Assistance become more complex. They rise in consciousness. And freedom. When a system reaches a chaos point. It is launched irreversibly on a new trajectory that leads either to breakdown. For to break through to a new structure and a new mode of operation. As described by ervin laszlo in the chaos point. From this perspective we can do the terrible crisis that could destroy human civilization of earth life. As potentially generating the dangerous painful but necessary birth of ourselves. As a more mature loving. Co-creative species. Why would the process of evolution stop here. It's clearly not. We see many signs of the rise of empathy spirituality and creativity. There are social innovations and you solutions arising in every field of endeavor perhaps the most fundamental and world-changing capacity of all. Is the maturation of our noosphere. The mind fear the thinking layer of earth. It is bringing all human knowledge together. And making it accessible to everyone. It is connecting us with one another beyond all existing governments and power structures it is fostering amphitheatre throughout the world. As we come become aware of and one another's suffering everywhere. To mass media and internet. It is through the noosphere. That we can blow up world. Or create worlds. Make new life-forms. Or destroy all of life. The noosphere. Is our planetary nervous system it is growing minute-by-minute connecting us in a new collective brain mind and heart of unprecedented genius power. And connectivity. Over four and a half billion people have cell phones. Facebook is the third largest nation in the world. Everyday new ways of being in touch with one another a growing. When you see this phenomenon of global connectivity. With evolutionary eyes. You realize that this is a natural metro station of the planetary nervous system. Our biosphere produced human life which created language build cultures systems and technologies. But i'm not connecting us with the noosphere. It is like an invisible new social organism licking us heart with heart. And center with center. Metaphysically speaking. Our crisis. Is the birth. Potentially. The birth of a more evolved human a universal human. One capable of co-creating a new planetary civilization. And eventually. A universal humanity. Birthing the universal human 12:20 to 12. We don't tolerate mistakes. Her statement struck me like a slap in the face. Of course we have compassion. Spoken like a true harvard manager. And forgive me for those who work for harvard i used to. Up until that point i felt a great rapport with my interviewer for a temp assignment that would last three intense summer months. And pay a $14 in change. The equivalent of what i was getting on unemployment ie. Half of what i'm worth. Unless. Harsh unenlightened indoctrinated. Without heart. And we thought the corporate world was harsh bennigan's harbor is corporation its real estate holdings are enormous its tentacles reach globally why did i want to get another job at harvard. My job. Is to help birth. The universal human. With barbara marx hubbard laws as birth 2012. On december 22nd. 2012. One day after the mayan calendar resets itself. And this supreme job begins. With me. And each one of us. Barbara marx hubbard is an 82-year old visionary elder of the human potential movement. Along with people like ty hard to shut down. Joseph houston. Abraham maslow and other avatars and mystics. She's been studying the human condition and figuring out how we can study what actually works and use that. As a unifying principle for the coming together of humankind. In a new paradigm. For the past four months i have been training with her as an ace. Ancient a conscious evolution. With hundreds of global citizens but mostly right now sojourner americans i have been ignoring with barbara marx hubbard and friends. Every tuesday night. As we all wake up to life at warp speed. To the lifting of the veil. Understanding remembering really. Who we are. And why we incarnated on planet earth. And those of us on the east coast actually met with her a few weekends ago for the northeast convergence in connecticut and new york. Concurrently i have been studying and training with a shamanic a deft and seven other classmates. To facilitate the retrieval of our lost and wounded parts to heal them. Bring them back. And make us whole. Like any art. Heart mind integration as it's called as taught by tommy priester of lincoln mass. Requires practice. So we repeat the steps among ourselves to embody the process. Investigated on a personal level. To know how to pass it forward to our clients. Propound work. It is empowering. And empowering blessing for practitioner and client alike. Membership in the human race. And learn the karmic reasons behind. Are seemingly wayward actions and reactions. We transform as we understand on the cellular level. Why. These trainings. And all the threads of my life i'm melding together. I feel very blessed to be alive at this moment in time. It's in a mentos moment. I was born for this remembering to follow an ancient japanese philosophy learned from a sensei years ago. When you reach age 60. You start giving back in earnest to your community. And you begin counting backwards until you die. Gus i am really 55. And i'll live to be 120. But i digress. The universal human. Is barbara marx hubbard's words taken directly from emergence. The shifts from ego to essence. What is the universal human. It is one connected through the heart to the whole of life. A person awakening from within by deep hearts desire to express and give his or her gifts into the world. A universal human is attracted to the future progressing toward the unknown imbued with a mysterious sense of what's emerging. Seeking to join with others to co-create a new and better world. It is a type of person. Who is expanding consciousness and awareness that the universe is evolving. And so are we. Those are most drawn to becoming universal humans are actually spiritual social pioneers. Building a new more compassionate. Co-creative culture. That could well, kind of humans. We are becoming. It starts with me. And i just embarked on this supreme journey. Following our own human development. Barber breaks it down to seven stages and 10 steps. And i'd like to read these to you and then open it up to a conversation among all of us. Those who wish to share with their experiences has. Ben. Stage 1 conception. Many of us have had unity flashes of higher experience throughout our lives. Moments of clarity. Of remembrance. Stage 2 gas station. Once awakened by spiritual or mystical experiences we study the new revelations honing our understanding. Stage 3 birth. When we first ourselves toward universal human hood. We feel that source coming from within ourselves. Stage for infancy. We are attracted to what barbara calls our essential self. Training ourselves to focus on the deeper essence of our being. Stage 5 childhood. The fundamental shift from ego. To essence. Recognizing what mystics have always taught that we are expressions of universal designing intelligence. With the essential self. The entity that has been guiding us all along. We find we are an incarnation of the blooded. That we have been seeking. Stage 6 youth. This comes naturally as we grow out of our child universal humans. It occurs when we find our life purpose. What we are born to do. And recreate small communities or circles of partners and pioneering souls. Beginning or larger work in the world. It's like a second puberty. End stage 7 adult. Youth prepares us for this emerging state eminent in us. Now. The only way to completely appear is when we the pioneering crossover generation successfully passed through this. of transition. And build a sustainable. Planetary civilization. The ten steps. To achieve this evolved higher vibrational state. Can be found in barbara's book. Emergency ship from ego to essence. Step one answering with barbara calls the inner sanctuary. A place of our mind safe. Pregnant. Nurturing. We cultivated each day. To effect transformation. Step 2. Contemplating the glory of the beloved to join the egoic self. With the essential self or the goddess or god within our ultimate connection. To universal energy. Step 3 incarnating. Step four. Inviting the beloved to take dominion. The actual marriage of local self. Two essential stuff. Step five the bliss of union of the human. With the divine. There is no turning back to argo excel's. Step six. Shifting our identity forever changed forever enlightened. For eternity. Step 7. Transferring authority from ego. To essence. Step 8 educating the local selves in their new contract. Step 9 the re-patterning of life to a magnetic attraction of a higher vibration. That attracts others with the evolutionary impulse and inspires them to. To transcend. And step 10. Fulfilling the promise.

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20101024_the_future_of_faith_john_sermon.mp3

I think lately i've had a few glimpses of the future of faith. One of them was here in our own building yesterday when the environmental protection agency honored us. With one of their national awards of merit. For the greening of this old congregation. And we played host to 15 different religious communities from all over the northeast. Who seem to catch fire. Sparks has started here and spread out. Into the wider needham community. And last weekend when molly was preaching in the pulpit i was down in dallas texas. Where i once served the very brassy buckles. America's bible belt. I've been invited there to speak on progressive theology by a group of unitarian universalist. From all across the country whose motto is freely following jesus. And yet in that one weekend i had more interface. More and more positive interactions than i can recall. It began with an excellent workshop i said in on. On zen buddhist meditation. Buy a filipino-american catholic. Who was a jesuit priest. Until we married. And had children. Now teaching at a methodist seminary. What a teacher's of course has a lot less to do with doctrine. Then with the experience. That i had in the workshop. A growing more centered. Moraware. And yes more compassion. Traditions. And later that same day i talked to the woman from india wearing. Safran. in the middle of her forehead. Talking with her about why she had chosen to join a new dallas area unitarian universalist congregation. Call pathways. Witches we do here. Celebrates the multiplicity. Of. Spiritual paths to greater wisdom. Overnight i stayed with two longtime unitarian universalist. Whose son graduated from princeton at the very top of his class last year. At oxford. Studying theology. To his parents amazing. Having been baptized last spring as eight. Jessie put it to them. Rather like president obama. And hoping like obama. To be a leader in politics. And world affairs and public issues. When i get my own lecture a colleague in ministry. Naomi king. Who is. Father is the famous writer stephen king. Was sitting there in the back row. Sending out my remarks through the internet blogosphere. At the end she told me i had had 1,000 people following what i said. And i heard from her about. Uu ministry partnerships. Stretching from hong kong. Eastern kenya. Waterworld. In the middle of the weekend i got an email report from my friends rabbi david rosen. Who lives in jerusalem rabbis for human rights. In israel. And where he leads most of the effective interfaith efforts to push for peace. His news with at least modestly. David's never naive but. Also never despairing he's a person. What face. And then i heard a new young uu minister. Probably not quite thirty yet. From a congregation in chicago that calls itself has porch. Heard him preach about justice. And mercy. It's humility. With what power i can describe. Talking about how important it would be for our country to turn from playing the part of roll. In today's. International religious drama. Trying to guarantee peace through endless war. And instead. Turn to another vision. The one that. The one that was called the kingdom or the commonwealth of god. And finally at the airport waiting for my plane back to boston i was reading a little book with the title. They take our jobs and 20 other myths about immigration. The author by the way i've invited to speak here come january. And up to me came to man. One mexican. The other muslim. Saying. What's read that book. By the way our parishwide book of the year. On the same subject the death of jocelyn. Immigration stories from the arizona. Mexico borderlands by margaret regan. The whole series of intimate stories of on the issue of. Immigrants. Human rights workers activist border patrol people. In that part of the world but nevermind. Today is united nations sunday in case you didn't know. It marks the 65th birthday. Of the un. On october 24th. 19:45. When the founders of san francisco declared to the world. We the people of the united nations. Determines to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war. To reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights. Stickman justickets he and worth of the human person. In the equal rights of men and women. End of nations large and small and better standards of life in larger freedom. And for these ends to practice tolerance. And to live together in peace as good neighbors. Do unite our strength. To maintain international peace and security. To ensure that armed force shall not be used. Save in the comment intra. To employ international machinery in the promotion of economic and social advancement of all people. Have resolved. To combine our efforts to accomplish these aims. From the covenant of marriage. To the covenant love relationship that forms a non kridel congregation. To the covenant we reaffirmed earlier in our worship. Between this congregation. And the fragile planet that we share. The charter of the united nations arose out of. Auto relief for gratitude. Specifically for the end of world war ii. It was an active. Confirming that we human beings are in. Are indeed what's martin buber called us the promise making. Promise breaking promise renewing. Species on the planet. Lately i've been thinking a lot about. Our future. As a species. And the face that can keep us going. My one-time teacher harvey cox's you. Heard. Believes that. Something new is donnie. Religiously. You may recalled first became famous back in 1965 with a book called the secular city. Which some people read as meaning that religion would disappear. In secularity. But that's not what. Harvey mess back then that all. As a theologian he was simply pointing out that. What seems to be secular. And pluralistic in the world. And not. Specifically religious. At least in the tribal sense. Even secular politics. Has religious significance. It represents various forms of faith. Some more inclusive than others to be sure. It includes its false false messiahs. Who may be bound to disappoint. But are very effort. The build community together on this planet. Sustainable community in relationship to the planet. Is inherently an act of faith. I've said it many times before from here. Admit it or not. It may not have to do much to do with the tradition. Or the culture or the church or synagogue that we were raised in but we have it it shows up in what we value. And in what we do. As thomas jefferson once put it it's in our lives and not from our words that our religion must be read. Words. Sometimes said paraphrasing a great minister from the church in dc where mark is a member. Belief is many things. So does disbelief. Before us religion is what happens to. When we open our minds to a greater truth. Amor universal one. When we open our hearts to a deeper compassion. In our conscience. To the call of justice. Which mark is a stewardship consulting my dad and our wallets to the collin community. What's cox's arguing in the newest book is that for more and more people around the world religion is becoming similar. That is it's less about bullies. Or hierarchies or doctrine. And it is more about transforming spiritual experiences. He points out that in the first three centuries christianity didn't have any creed's. It was pluralistic the early church. Was more interested in that alternative vision. Of the commonwealth of god. Division. Jesus. Lift it up and that didn't die with him. Division of what the world would be like if instead of power over politics. Like that of the empire. We could even begin. To treat one another is. We should. Is truly sisters and brothers. To no power but the unseen. Source of life. That we share. Then rome took over the church of course. And the original age of faith was 68 succeeded by centuries when the emphasis was all on what you believe and how correctly. Are you don't believe. What's emerging houses cox all across global religious lies. Liveline. Is a new age of the spirit. When belief is far less important to the future of face then. Deepen authentic spirituality and i think that's right. As long as we recognize the scripture say that not all spirits are equally holy. Or make for wholeness and justice and peace diamond dallas for example i know. More and more so-called christians. Just love being told to jesus. Or that he wants them to be rich. Rather than generous. On the plane on the way back i read a great religious critique. Jim wallis about the tea party's belief. In the libertarian doctrine of selfish individualism. And minimal neutral support. Through that secularity week old government. I know why so many americans are afraid and angry today. The people who've worked hard. Who's love their country. And now no less than the workers in the streets of france they feel that the country has broken its promise. The promise for a better future. For the children and their children's children and they may well be right. But when. It comes to blaming the government i think perhaps all of us. Should recall what pogo said in the comics long ago we have met the enemy. And he is off. My wife time since the founding of the un at the end of world war ii. America has all too often. Become the new wrong. We have indulged ourselves. In bread and circuses. Bankrupting. Public coffers. We don't mind if corporations. Exploit the earth store. Or other people's overseas as long as our legions made up now. None of our sons and daughters. For the most part. The people hired from among the poor. Almost permanently. At war. Do you know that the number of tanacon bases around this world. Is now 700. 61. We just hate it when the government bails out banks and corporations. Doesn't effectively restart the economy. Finding its own account so overdrawn that it can prepare the highways or the schools or provide healthcare or jobs or the. Shift to a more green economy. I just wish those who are so angry. Would also question the deepest waste. Question the three trillion dollars. Your long-term costs. For the wars in iraq and afghanistan. Question whether it makes sense for the u.s.. To imitate roll. Whippets. Costra. Scattered around his economic empire questions. But this is what is necessary. For us to provide leadership. In the world. You know i've no isolationist. From my teenage years. When my family hosted an exchange student from uganda. When my first serious girlfriend came back from her studies in japan i have thought of myself. As an american yes but also a citizen of the world. And i want this nation engaged in the community of nations. But i agree with bu professor of international relations andrew bacevich. Who was the colonel in the us army. Whose son died serving in iraq. But it's time for the us to lead less by force. With its legions. And more by example. Is he cultivating our own garden. And making this nation what it was meant to be. A flourishing land. A free people. In right relation. With the land they live on. Dendrite relation with even the poor in their myths. Did write relation with eva the stranger. Who comes to sojourn. Auburn britons are cutting the military. In the name of austerity. Along with their social spending. God forbid that we now feel that we have to pick up. Britain share the military slack or imitate. They're approached by failing to invest wisely in the education and health and well-being of. And sustainability of our own country. That i believe would only. Only damage. Our ability. To give our children. A flourishing future. Instead let's pray that we freeze. Our children and other people's children. Military back home. Let's stop fearfully imitating ancient rome. And this enthrall ourselves from what president eisenhower called the military industrial complex. And from what the savage and others call the washington consensus. About the need for militarism. To sustain a cheap product high-profit low-wage no economic security economy. Let's have the faith that there can be a few. For a children. And our children's children. But let it be sought by a deeper. Spirituality. A connection. And compassion. All around the planet. Some let america be america once again. As a beacon to others. An example of fairness. Humility. Generosity. And love for peace. So may it be.

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20120610_evolution_of_faith_communities_tad_staley_sermon.mp3

Well good morning everybody thank you for this opportunity to speak as you for tonight's game is castalia. And and poopy cold on sunday so ironic that i'm here. Doing this. But that's important i think i'm bringing here the the perspective of a wife call the spiritual d aspera and i want you to keep that in mind that's actually going to be the theme of this and also as i hear the stories. Of the community this wonderful community and related communities. I'm actually secrets helping the reason i'm bringing a message of change and i and i. Mixed about that i think change is inevitable i think we're talking about changed but. Within the context of. Maintaining what we have here. So i can see that informal poll and i'm going to ask you two questions about our religious and spiritual q q like your religious or spiritual. Two things about this poll not mutually exclusive you could be one or the other or both or neither. I'm using about this pool for any theologians are linguists in here i'm not going to define the friends so if you would mind. How many view tickets elvis religious. Okay now how many say spiritual. Okay. So. Rough gas. There were two questions two choices how many said yes to both spiritual and religious. Great how many said spiritual no religious spiritual not religious. How many were religious not spiritual. I'd like to learn more about that there was two. You're welcome. Is that a difference. And in the pool was interesting nationwide to look what i found the results quite interesting spiritual and religious. But less than half. Spiritual-but-not-religious 30%. Up-and-coming that's the that's no fewer spiritual not religious you're on the ascendancy right. The other two were both 9% and 4% that didn't know. The most honest of them all. But what's interesting about that is. The music 78%.. 48 + 30. Other nationally or spiritual. 57%. I do the math like 48 + 9. Until 6 really soon now i just would have been established at the baseline. And one way to certificate elantra nurses is two. What atoms mean a few months ago. Spiritual. You think. The word phrase and refilling it last night and then when i pick elitches don't decline great set of terms that came out. My favorite definition of spiritual was the feeling of digging my hands in the garden soil that was spiritual. So there's a a book recently could call back after religion and it was written by a diane butler bat she did this is where i got the protector size from and she actually has been asking audiences for about a year. And then she did the workers situation test and her spirituality. The first religion and spirituality defined. Open. Institution. Experience. Organization. Connection. Boundaries inclusive. Certainty and doubt but we can certainly rich reality doubt love that one. Order. Searching. Tacos on dogma intuition footlong with fennel to a malbec. And religion has its evolved available it would certainly fall further if his. About. Impersonal objective structure so ones. This rule 14 towards formal. We can all have our own definitions of that but that's just a general sense of how it's been perceived. So party cox recently called the future faith and he actually. The first one is spirituality. Against what he called the shrink wrapping or the pre packaging of religion. Buy i really just corporation to says so maybe think that there may be a kind of man occupied church movement on the way. Second thing was the spirituality wonder before the intricacy of nature and perhaps in a sense of relation although i think that's what religion was meant to be. Third eye recognizes the increasingly porous borders between different tradition and it's looks more of the future than to the past. So interesting sense of of this separation of terms. But you know what comes out of this is. There's a sense that there are some of the population is getting increasingly dissatisfied with church and their voting with their feet. In fact the demographics show that. In spite of your some subsets of the population church attendance is going down. Going down is one fact was interesting is there is now a. The third largest religious group in the country. Is unaffiliated. People who are religious but they don't go to or blonde to a church. This is this is going to be our team here. Musicians the spiritual diaspora has its own category. And apparently among the young young adults 30 and under that percentage is 50% in its 30 or larger population. The casters is a trend of. People spiritualities high and strong. People are. Looking for alternative ways to express that spirituality is not always in church and we're sitting here in church i understand this is a tough message i'm bringing right now. Address that. So you may want to continue. Is this a problem. There's a recurring pattern american religious history. Recalled the great awakenings. Beginning 1730's northampton where. Very different circumstances and different shape but essentially what was going on there most historians feel is. This need to feel a personal vistaril deep-rooted religious connection. And churches have become institutional and civic and impersonal eyes and they weren't delivering. And so. Dipping a few of these epics and in each box in american religious history. And the disruptive religion. And they taste they change their shape they have to adapt new to nominations are born. And so on. I've got right now is another than this. Are we in the midst of a new great awakening is this a great awakening where we're seeing the rise of the spiritual people feel passionate about spiritual. Dropping and religion. Which would likely bring this is there this need. For churches to actually adapt become agile how do we get a house. So. Talk about this with john buren's back in may and he gave me. I would say this to him i think an institutional response. And what you gave me the the adage know chalice snowflame. Without the shower there is no plan. I've got right now is. In the face of the evolving. Culture and media and everything. What form of callus is it. That will. Sustain and support. The flame that we are currently you know experiencing. One level i got to say that watching. This rise the affiliated. In many ways the flame is leaving the chalice. Some claim is left to tell. It's very hard to get it back. So this changing culture. What is it that makes what makes an organization inflexible. What did i think of a couple things when it's. It's the things that don't change. I would say that. You know in the in the spiritual vs. religious description column are those things which when when cling to are the things that make it hard to change things like foundries and structure and dogma. Externalities by these are the things that a religion that we've put out there at our inflexible and and furman ecstatic. Appropriate change. I can point out is instead that i think we get the challenges when when means. Get completed with anne's. The means so in a religious, most of those were means to a spiritual end. Okay so again with things like structure dogma even liturgy. These are things that are means to a spiritual end. Often happens in lawrence massachusetts is. The means become the end of themselves. So that you know what we're focusing on is all the programs with structure the externalities with leaves the creed at the expense of. The spirituality that we're trying to promote. Anyway. The chalice then becomes more important in the plant. So that's me kind of what are the challenges in terms of making sure we had this agility to move forward. The good news is from you you perspective is that very few of these sort of dogma created externalities that were that are fixed that will keep us in mobile we have these wonderful. Principles but they're spiritually based their openness fiercely basehealth denomination. However the cautionary note because the unions have their own spiritual the aspera. We haven't gotten the number of unaffiliated unitarian universalist. These are people who say i mean you you if i don't go to church. 77%. 77%. Now i think there's great news and something about the opening the flexibility and end the end the principles of our faith but. From a perspective of chalice inflamed in the whole lot of flame not in this chalice. So. Looking at it from the from the uu perspective from the the main off i think they're really embracing the different president morales recently wrote a paper strongly recommend called congregations and beyond. In which by the way he says the base is the congregation connect we could see it here so fantastic bass. He's encouraging uu congregation to find new ways to create it from religious communities in new ways to connect in fact. One of his district principal and here is. Focus more on connection. The non-membership. This is a mean that i'm a nice thing. Membership like most of the programs in the church is about your mean that's there to support the spiritual and. Connection is really very close to the spiritual and what we're after it's connecting and we supposed to see this white nationalist have here. So what he's really saying is that there are other ways besides membership to encourage these connections especially when most of the planets outside the chalice so. Again i think it's worth saying don't try to get that money back in the chalice there other ways to make that connection. And he says. Congregations cannot be the only way we connect with people and woodbine the connections outside. 2nd support a flame. It's not within the channel. Zen koan almost. Talus the flames out there and i'm supporting. Nothing going forward. Thursday talks about is. And i think this is probably the answer and people like david know this is where i come from. There more ways to connect now. I am and uua is talkin increasing about. Making use of connecting technology social media internet technology. To make these connections quality of those connections may not want to see my friend you are. Friends cat doing sit-ups on a speaker. But the point is that the spiritual diaspora were talking about are more likely to be there than they are to be here. So really important set of connections. If i could say in the in the context of the birds story earlier today. The bird is earlier today. I press to get on it on the stick. Technologically. I think this is actually a key to actually getting outside the congregation and making those connections. Summarize. You're going to miss the great awakening. My opinion others make it too i think there's a sense of instability occupied with respect to institutions of death since change this rise and spirituality how do we adapt. The same time we here for transition so we had this opportunity to actually examine this chalice inflamed discussion and means and ends what are the organizational means that we want to enable. You spiritual aunt. I think as we think that out. Consider the fact that the flame is out there. Such a wonderful opportunity. Where we get to examine the 53rd chalice and figure out how we can sustain. And be sustained by. It's not within the chalice.

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20110814_what_to_do_with_grief_john_sermon.mp3

My first sermon since may. This place. I must say it feels good to be back and i'm intensely grateful. Forest believe the congregation provided me. Again this year. I didn't write another book you'll be glad to know. Said early in the summer gwen and i. Had a fabulous trip together in. The baltics in russia. While we were in europe we ran into another couple who kept going on and on about their. Their earlier part of their trip in then. Especially their time in paris. Which move me to tell them about the american couple. Who famously at the end of their european time we're amusing about 2. Places that they like mostyn. One turned to the other and said you know dear. I think if one of us were to die. I might move to paris. Summer also gave me a chance to read david mcculloch's great new book. Which is about americans in paris. Americans who went there and were changed and came back and brought change to this country. Per diem there's a very poignant scene in which the. Late 19th century boston writer william dean howells. Founder of the atlantic monthly among other things. Is that a garden party given by the pater james whistler. How's the standing alone. Uncharacteristically downcast. He's just gotten word that he has to return to boston. His father is dying. Sensing something wrong the young or younger american comes over to speak. The hollows. Suddenly he turns and puts his hand on the younger man's shoulder. Saying oh you're young you're young. Be glad of it. Live all you can. It's a mistake not to it doesn't matter what you do but live this place makes it all come over me. I see it now i haven't always done so and now i'm getting older and it's late. It's going past me i've lost it. You have time. You're young. That young man was named jonathan sturgis. And a few years later he told that story to the novelist. Henry james. Stressing the intensity with which al's it spoken of his grief. Over having failed to live fully. And it became the germ of the whole novel. The james said in paris called the ambassador's. In which the main character. Has the similar outburst i think this is why the poet mary oliver rice when it's over i want to say. All my life. I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom taking the world into my arms. What it's over i don't want a wonder. If i have made of my life something particular. And real. I don't want to find myself siding and frightened. Or full of arguments i don't want to end up. Simply having. Visited. The world. But to live fully in the world. I've learned. As oliver has one must learn to deal with grief. I think it's one reason gwen and i went into ministry both of us. When i was a boy. I didn't think of it as grief but i lived in 10 different houses and went to 10 different schools before i reach the age of 16. That's a lot of weeks.. When went to five different high schools in four different countries. The importance of building. Enduring communities. Real relationships. I think became important for us both. And dealing with grief well. Along the way i think it's been late people. Who have often shown me the way. Sometimes people who have long since died. Come to me. In thoughts and dreams has stanley plumly poem suggests last weekend for example i was in san francisco. Conducting a memorial service for. An old friend. Who had been on the board of our seminary there with me. But the night before. I had a dream in which i was visited by my friend david. David johnston who was. Still an editor in new york city. A husband and father of two. Who when he went on the trip to san francisco. As he walked back from his hotel after dinner with one of his authors. Was set upon by young robbers and shot in the back by a boy of thirteen. Some good samaritan. God help quickly enough the david survive. Although the bullet-head cut his spinal cord. In a few weeks he was back in new york. Starting his rehab. When i pay the pastor call on him. And found him full of determination. To live life nonetheless is fully as he put. Despite paraplegic. Rather than raging at the young man. Who hit the naira arrested by then. David expressed his own form of grief. For such a young life. Wasted. And then a few days after i saw him he suddenly threw a blood clot. Eddie.. Stanley plumly rights in the parable like the dream you're all the characters. Do come today. In real life. You must choose. In other words when greece strikes. Am i just a victim. Feeling mugged by life itself. Or am i perhaps also the passing priest or levite. Going on saying tisk tisk a doleful. Wall hurrying about some. Routine that perhaps. Doesn't merit. Are not giving attention. What does. Am i capable of stopping and. Investing my attention and compassion. Interning grief. In that direction into a thief or others. At davis memorial service. This is over 20 years ago now. Something moved me to tell a parable from the muslim tradition. According to this haditha man came to the prophet. May peace be upon him. And said my mother has died. Now what must i do for the sake of her soul and the prophet looked. Out into the panting heat of the. Does. Unreplied dig a well. Bigweld. At the thirsty may have water to drink. And then sadie bought yourself this. This have i done for the sake of my mother. I think david's wife tina must've. Heard miata. A deep level. Because she soon began to network with other women who have lost loved ones to the epidemic of gun violence in america. Together they plan to protest down in washington. Thousand pairs of empty shoes. Maybe you remember this. Men's shoes. Women's shoes. Children's shoes. Teenagers shoes. One for each person killed in this country by a gun. Each year. The total was over 40,000. And then they brought the shoes to washington and place them. All around the reflecting pool. Between the washington monument in the us capitol. Became organizers of the million man march mom march against gun violence. And put those empty shoes on the desks of members of congress. Who all too often scared of the nra. Simply support. The unconscionably easy access to firearms that even thirteen-year-olds have. I was one of the speakers at their big dc rally. It helped my own brief some. Even though. We know that the political tied to this date. Still favors the crazy idea that to reduce violence everyone should have a gun. Is sarah palin would say and how's that working out for you. I've often said at memorial services grief is something that we all experience. All alone. There is no solution. To the individual pain of grief however in individualism. Jesus didn't say blessed are those who breathe. But rather blessed are those who mourn. Which is what we do when we give voice to our grief. When we share it with others. And he promised for they shall be comforted. There's a buddhist parable in which. A young child has died. The grieving mother is so stricken the chi. Clutches the dead baby to her breast and will not let it go. She keep seeking someone who will revive the child. Who has medicine or magic. Finally she was directed to the buddha. Help me she screams. I will he calmly replies. But to do so. Sebastian the medicine you must bring me a few grains of rice for my household. In which no one has ever suffered died or grieve. Go find citra house. And the woman of course goes from house to house all about asking is anyone ever died or grieved here. Oh yes is the answer it every door. And so at like she returns to the buddhist still desperate the trials still in her arms. Saying there is no house that has not known death. Or suffering or grief. And the buddhist simply looks at her in silence. With eyes of compassion. And extends his arms. And she at last relinquishes the baby. For burial. Few years ago a colleague of mine in ministry went through. The deepest grief apparent to know. Marlin lavin hard as the minister of. All souls church in tulsa oklahoma. Where are. One-time intern minister molly house gordon grew up. 5 years ago when. Marlon and his wife and itro we're young parents. Still in their 30s. Their three-year-old daughter sienna. Suddenly and inexplicably died. In the night. Just three days after her third birthday. Some unseen. Congenital anomaly head. Ended her life. The shock was so deep that is marlon is confessed to people for a time. He fears that. Immobilizing grief. The parents felt. End the marriage and. And his effectiveness in ministry. Put them through a sequence of events almost as inexplicable as to death his father and his brother. Propose something. But he and others might do in response. Martin lavender harvest congregation in ridgewood new jersey where marlon and his brother derek both grew up. It started to raise some funds for an educational human rights project. Derek lives in guatemala. Working as a builder. There he should learn to speak not only spanish but even kitchen. The language of the mayan people who have suffered mightily. From human rights abuses. If syanna will never be able to go to school they said. Tomorrowland elytra. What about using our grief to build schools. For some mayan children. Kumite. Otherwise. Never get a chance. To learn it all. In the parable. Asks initially. What must i do to win life eternal. Others may hear that question differently. But i don't hear the response jesus gave as being about winning immortality. Or even fame. Rather he tells a story. Letters about promoting life. More abundant life. And not just for oneself. But for others in the human family. Weistec can go on even after our own lives are over so the sienna project. Team called. I think elvis in equivalent. To digging that well in the desert. So far five schools have been built in guatemala. It's in the village that had none. Or where another one was so clearly needed. Five more plan. The village provides the land. Guatemala's government funds the teachers for each. Co-educational classroom. Derek developed a. Sturdy low maintenance prefab model. Fergalicious school. The villagers do the prep work. And later the finish work. And in between gringo you you volunteers. Who have raised the funds for the materials. About $20,000 for each three-room school. Comfort week. And work at their own expense. Helping derek and martin. And the villagers put up the basic structure. The most recent school. Built this summer in the mayan market town of. Chichicastenango. Is for disabled children. It's only the second such school. In all of guatemala. In the five years since the sienna project bien marlins congregation in tulsa. Has become the largest unitarian universalist church in the united states. As well as one of the most racially diverse. I think there's a connection. Dealing deeply with grief. Is connected to coming fully alive. Meanwhile uu congregations. In new jersey at the colorado and elsewhere have sent teams down to build the schools. And after talking to marlin at general assembly. This june i decided i am going to lead such a team myself this way. In february. Dirty school vacation week. And i invite. To those of you who may feel so moved to consider coming along. I need nine more volunteers. Ask me for details after the service. But you don't have to travel. Or build schools. You know. The choose to play a different and more constructive part. In the parable of grief. Going beyond. Feeling oneself to be. The abandoned victim. Going beyond playing the role of passerby. There are plenty of opportunities. Stop and pay deeper attention. Not. Just far away. But everyday. Our social ministry program. first parish will offer a whole catalog. All such opportunities in the coming year. From working with children in the inner city schools. The homeless families. It just making sandwiches for the people on the streets of boston. I need that exists this month by the way. In my prayer i quoted the great unitarian universalist minister. Paul davies. When we remember those whom we've known and loved and lost. Help us to remember also. How great privileges human loving. But not to have known and loved it all would have been lost far greater still. That is because no grief is a lonely and painful and individual process. Where it is. To end. Is in. Deep ingratitude. For the gift of life itself and all of its brevity and fragility. And deepen determination to live one's life. More fully than ever. And whatever time remains. Been life eternal is not so much a life that goes on and on from one incarnation to another is the buddhist might put it. But one live. Here now with deep attention. To what they also call the great compassion. But his colleague to all of us if we would but listen. In the still small voice of our own grieving and living. And that of others in the wide world around us. Calling us to the service of life itself. And of spiritual life more abundant for ourselves. And for others. I tell you this right to marry oliver again. I tell you this to break your heart. By which i mean only that it break open. And never close again. To the rest of the world. For the live in this world. You must be able to do three things. What is mortal. The holden. Against your bones knowing. Your old life depends upon it. And. When the time comes. To let it go. Don't let it go. May we learn to grieve well my friends. So that we and others. They live. Have life. And life more abundantly.

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20120916_crane_monday_morning_sermon.mp3

Wherever we're going his monday morning. And wherever we're coming from his mother's lap. And that combined with the fact that. Every transition starts with an ending. And with a beginning. Your father dies. The new baby is born. You move. You get the diagnosis. You lose a job or leave one. You can't drive anymore. Even the most ordinary and predictable changes. Trigger transition. Monday morning. Monday morning. Isn't just. For the next the first day of the week or the second however you count. It is. The day after labor day. It is the first of the year. It is the day after your birthday. It is that day after some milestone. Some transitions. Some endings are benign. And others are life-changing. But i would argue that all require some biological and emotional adjustment. To cross whatever threshold. Comes next. Now we have to. Set the alarm turn on the heat leave and come home in the dark get along without him. Figure out what to do when the child is colicky. We have to learn to live without someone or. To live with someone new. We have to say goodbye to our child on the first day of school. And then goodbye all over again when they go off to camp and go off to college and. Go off to a new life somewhere else. And with every goodbye comes. A time to adjust and recalibrate our lives. Most ministers will tell you that every transition even the most mundane ones do truly. Affect both body and spirit. And if we don't pay attention we will feel off balance. If we're lucky though. We may actually experience a kind of transformation. As a result of. Consciously living through that transition. So i suspect if you're like me you've learned to develop coping mechanisms for riding the wave of predictable daily and seasonal changes. In fact most of the time we don't even think about it we just do it. It's one of the bigger changes come that we don't always have those. Automatic. Coping mechanism. My father died in 1989. He collapsed while watching the super bowl game and 4 days later he was gone. I remember going to the grocery store the day after he died. I had a real short list. That i shop for every week. But on that day i found myself literally. Wandering aimlessly up. And down the aisles. Looking and looking for cereal. I just couldn't even focus long enough. Look at the sign. Ortalik what was around me on. The isle. I just kept. Walking up and down. And then i'd remember no here i'm here to look for cereal. I'm here for cereal. That experience which frankly is as real to me this morning as it was back then. Is i believe what it feels like in that psychological no-man's-land. Between the old reality. And you won. In my old reality. My father was living and laughing. And mostly winning gin rummy every night. In the time it took for his breathing to stop. I had a new reality. One neither my body nor my mind could fathom. Or fully integrate. My father was gone. I needed to buy siri. No not every transposition leads to some momentous transformation. But i do believe. That every transition holds the kernel of possibility for something transformative to happen. Something deeply personal. Life-affirming. And sometimes. Spiritual. From my perspective. Transitions. Are natural opportunities for new growth and vitality. Infer my own experience i have come to believe. Set the seedbed our soul of our soul is most fertile. During these times of transition. These murky messy sometimes miserable. Transitions. Can lead us to a new way of seeing a new way of being. Something. Can be revealed to us. Or perhaps. We'll see something. We've known all our lives. I will see it again as if. For the first time. I didn't know it then. But when my father took his last breath. I was grasping for. Are myself. It wasn't until many years later that i could give voice to a personal trans. Formation. That was triggered. In my father's dying. And those many years later. In recognition of the changes that had. Come my way. I wrote my dad a letter. This is part of it. Dear dad. Lately. I've been missing your laugh. Your distinctive hearty laugh at laughs at fill the room no matter how big that last that embarrassed me when i was a kid. It's been almost seven years since you've gone and still. I cannot get that scene out of my mind. Those huge hands of yours. Tie-down in restraint. The tubes the monitors the drips. They said the infection would have ravaged your body even sooner. If you hadn't been so strong. So healthy. They were amazed. That's how you fought. To live. So was i. They didn't know how unhappy you were. How you'd wanted to die for years. They didn't know how hard living was for you. They couldn't appreciate the miracle of that last hour. When i watched you fight. But it was in that hour. That hour when your life ended. That you gave me mine. You know that don't your daddy. Because even though you couldn't speak. In that moment you told me everything i needed to know to change my life. You told me to take risks to dream big dreams. And to live. Bully. Funny isn't it i knew you were going to die i looked at you laying there and i knew. But i heard your message as clearly as if we had been at home sitting in the living room. Honeysett. And 79 years old. And i've always done what others expected me to do. I didn't travel when i have the chance. I didn't buy the property on the lake when i could afford it. I didn't do the work i most wanted to do. And now it's over. And what do i have to show for. I heard you. And i remember thinking. I'm watching my father died it doesn't get any harder than that. And then i knew. I knew deep down something amazing was happening between us. I know that if i could watch you. i can do anything. And in that moment dad that moment when you drew your last breath. And the monitors. Jagged line. Smooth doubt 21 straight line. In that moment. I vowed to take risks. To dream big dreams. To do what i wanted to do and be who i wanted to be. Miss you daddy. I miss your laugh. Love from your only daughter. As a minister. I'm often invited into people's lives. At times of significant changes. There's a wedding next week. The loss of a loved one. The arrival of someone's first child. It's such a privilege walking with people through life's transitions. And it's a big part of what we ministers do. We listened to your story. We here and hold your grief. Your fear. Your anger. You're since that you've lost your way. We bear witness. 2. To your transition. And. Your transformation. A month ago i arrived here to be your minister. To do all the things any minister would do but also. To be intentional. Interim minister. Who helps you navigate through the transition that begin with an ending. John buren's retirement after 10 years of service to this congregation. As the interim i am invited to serve you for two years with a very special man.. I'm here to help this congress congregation see itself as if for the first time. And by holding up a mirror i'm inviting you to see what i see. And hope that you can remember all over again the best. And most important things about your history and your heritage. About your ministry. And your mission. And about the programs and activities that sustain this ministry. I believe this. 2 years. Is a fertile time for this congregation. It may be a little unsettling. But it is full of possibilities. So. As we set out on this expedition of ours i hope you'll get excited all over again about the essence. A first parish in needham the congregation that you are part of that you make. The congregation that makes you who you are. And you will get excited about. The parts you want to take with you and the parts you want to dust off and and buffer up and the parts that you can only dream of now but you can see. You can see them. I know. What it feels like to be unsettled. But i encourage you to dare to keep moving through any discomfort. Focus your collective commitment and energy on giving voice to your goals and dreams. So that you can attract the very best minister. To serve first parish in needham beginning in the summer of 2014. So yes we begin with an ending. John's leaving. And in all likelihood this will trigger questions for you. What if we lost. And what possibilities does that lost reveal. And in time you will discover your own answers. But. In the interim. I encourage you to feel both. The lost. And. The possibility. Feel it. Visceral. Feel it. Spiritually. As your minister during is in between time i want to hear an acknowledged endings in your life. And hold them gently and with reverence. And i want to honor that this congregation is incubating a new beginning that is all yours. And in that time and that's them. This time together these two years that we have is the time of expectancy. As you wait for the not yet born to grow in your mist. As maxine humans poem suggests. It's time to lift off into the weather. It's possible we could experience some turbulence. But in all likelihood it'll be a smooth ride. My town is to serve as coach. As you do the work of defining for yourselves what's important to take with you into the future and what kind of minister you want. To walk with you. As you move into that. Why do we take all this time to do this why don't we just. Get on with it. Well i go back to maxine poem. We do it for the children. And their children's children's children. So that the light. The essence of first parish in needham burns as brightly in the future. As it has in the past. And so that it burns for you. Right here. Right now. In the interim. Let us close out with him number 380. Rejoice in love we know and share. You may be seated. I closed with a second stanza of from a longer poem by stanley kunitz i bet many of you know it. It's called liver living in the layers lives in the layers. How shall the heart be records reconciled to its feast of losses. In a rising wind the manic dust of my friends. Those who fell along the way. Bitterly stings my face. Can i turn. Turn. Exalting somewhat with my will intact to go wherever i need to go. And every stone on the road is precious to me. In my darkest night when the moon was covered and i roamed through the wreckage. A nimbus cloud voice directed me. Live in the layers. Not on the litter. Do i lack the art decipher it. No doubt the next chapter in my book of transformations. Is already written. I am not done with my changes.

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040919_Lyceum2_Schempp%20.mp3

It's not often that one is in the presence. Of someone who's. Public stand. On an injustice. Has changed the wall. One thinks of personalities like rosa parks. Our guest this morning. Hillary sham. A high school student in abington pennsylvania. Was confronted. With the van common custom. This was the year 1956. School. With an address over the public. Announcements system in high school. A reading from the king james version of the bible. Valerie who was raised in a unitarian home. Recognized that there was a problem. In government promoting. A singular. Bran. Harbor liquor. He volunteered. To take the morning scripture reading. And read from the quran. For which act he was expelled. From abington high school. His family's challenge to the school system. And the practice. Of bible reading in the public schools. Courts. For some seven years. It remained alive issue because his younger siblings. We're in the same school system. The us supreme court ruled. In abington versus schempp. That the practice. Of bible reading. Denver public school should be empty. We have with us this morning. Hillary sham. For many years. While teaching in his. Academic field physics. Serving as a researcher. In questions of perch state separation. This year. It seems too many of us who follow such issues. That there is been a dangerous erosion. Hope many of the traditional. Policies. That would. Form a decent boundary. Between. And so it's with great pleasure this morning. That i give you a genuine. Painter of the american. Publix. Our guests at the needham lycian this morning please welcome with me ellery sham. Good morning and thank you john for that nice introduction. Highway my apartment to i see a turnout of people that the karl road hasn't scared under their beds. How many of you know my personal story about how i objected to bible reading in the public schools and won the supreme court case that john just mentioned to banish the practice. It amazes me that you can type into google and get 1000 citations. What others call a landmark case. One of my talk saw that the arlington street church is still on the web so you can read more. Just review i was a sixteen-year-old in a suburban philadelphia high school abington pennsylvania in 1956. And of curt to me that reading from the bible was discriminatory. Against all other religious texts and traditions. The practice was called the morning devotions and following the bible reading it was coming to stand and recite the lord's prayer. Objected by taking a copy of the colorado school. And reading this during the bible reading and reading it to myself. Nervously. Not standing for the lord's prayer. I was sent to the principal's office. Electric lady on respect. Now we know that respect for authority is not a pronounced characteristic of teenagers. But i replied that i had respect for the first amendment. The idea of separation of church and state. Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion. Norfolk ibitinga free exercise thereof. He was distinctly unimpressed. However i was not expelled. And that evening i came home and wrote a letter to the aclu. Asking for their help. I knew about the aclu. Because my parents belong to the unitarian church in philadelphia. Now outside new england. Supporting the aclu almost dangerous. And this was just shortly after the mccarthy era. But i had the support of my parents. And i might say i'm sad to say that my father had died last just last november in my mother suddenly died just last july. New york times noted in ed's obituary. Is survived by his children and a lasting supreme court legacy. Following the supreme court decision in 1963 there was enormous outrage. And there have since been numerous attempts to amend the constitution. To reverse this decision. Which incidentally was 821. Joined by justices of different backgrounds. Including a catholic a protestant and a jew. The supreme court wanted this decision to be seen is based on a principle. That included. All the various religious traditions. Received about 5,000 letters. Two-thirds of them against us. My parents are applied to each one that had a return address. And this was in the days before email and xerox machines. About one-third were vituperative. Go to russia. We're amazed the christians could have such hatred and evil in the name of christ and god. We also saw a pattern. Someone was full of faith. Then we were examples of whatever they hated. What are you. What are you atheist. What are you niggars. What are you atheist. I've even said what are you. What are you is zoroastrian. Zoroastrians and you might want to look into this. I'm quite sure that nobody asked. States. People love to attach labels. In america it is awfully bad to be a communist socialist a liberal or to question mainstream piety. The absolute worst. Is to be a non-believer. There was a most the atheist of the most prescribed despise group in america. After the 1963 supreme court decision. It was predicted that the usa would go to hell in a handbasket. Without the bible in the school or morality and decency would collapse. So decide about not posting the ten commandments. But let's look at the evidence. There was actually less violence in schools now than in the good old days. Schools now teach about tolerance and diversity. I'm try to stop bullying taunting and harassment. Funny things that were perfectly normal in my school days would now get you expelled. Girls and gays jews and menara tsr safer. I'm race riots are rare. This represents in my opinion. More of advancement. Celebrated cases of school shootings have nothing to do with bible reading or commandments. It has to do with angry kids with access to guns. And can be imagined allowing kids to select the bible passages to read to promote agenda. The anti-gay passages in leviticus from romans for example. The passages in the new testament that do mean jews. The whole framework that promotes christianity as the exclusive way to salvation. Ny schools. As president kennedy noted. Synagogues. Schools do indeed have a great influence on children. And this is why they must be neutral. I'm a muse the proponents of school prayer seem to believe that somehow. Prayer in school is more effective than prayer at home. I suspect they want a public display of religiosity. And i might note that some of our national leaders were full of faith and fire. According to the author repeated testimony. Use their piety to start wars champion the death penalty and avoid serious thinking by relying on face paste notions. Our problem it seems to me. It's not too little bible reading in pryor. But too much. Prayers when a man talks to himself thinking is talking to god. Usually asking special favor. Organize public prayer. Repeating well-worn phrases is simply a superstitious incantation. I always down someone late leg and sing onward christian soldiers before boiling an egg. The god speaks to a man we recognize this is a delusion and mental disturbance. The president might take notice. For me it's a mystery why god chooses unstable people with hang-ups to speak to. And why many people believe this provides leadership. So going back to the beginning. First i felt that there was a fundamental issue of fairness parole. Consider the new testament the word of god. The bible was not the holy book of muslims buddhists or hindus. Non-believers pagans and others do not need christianity. Schools. Valuable source of truth. Certainly no more than any other book written 2000 years ago. Well there are some beautiful versus there also many quite ugly sections. And the idea of reading about noah's flood under the authority of a state-sponsored devotion. And then going to geology or biology class was. And is deeply offensive to my scientific sensibilities. Noah's blood something never happened. I do not believe in miracles i thought i was wrong for the schools to teach them. Secondly i consider that the first amendment in the bill of rights have served our nation very well. And the more we respect these fundamental freedoms the more strength they give us. Even at the present time. As the aclu reminds us we should take alarm at the first experiments on our liberties. Seemingly small intrusions of faith-based politics can have major consequences. Churches have always been ready to impose censorship of books and ideas. I respect freedom of speech they labeled as blasphemy. Just recently the catholic church actually argued that their sex scandals were outside the purview of the secular courts. A secular society according to the first amendment i sure was up there was a single standard of justice. Churches must all obey the same laws. Thirdly i posted that praying and searching for spiritual peace healing is a satisfactory substitute. For learning about difficult issues in the world and struggling with him. I think our struggle is not to find inner peace. But to keep alive the itch. That makes us want to do better. As junk jon-don observe. There was peace in the grave. But not embrace. Moreover religion by road does not promote spiritual values. Nor does constant repetition of the pledge promote patriotic or civic values. Public prayer is not intended to promote religious values. But to enhance the authority of some churches and some political views over others. Similarly with the posting of the ten commandments. It's really about power not about religion. Removing the bible reading and prayer devotion would be free. That without this authority school children would become more free to make their own judgments. About what is based on evidence and what is based on wishful thinking. I was naive. Intellectual independence is not usually free from the old triplets. Encouraging kids to think is a worthwhile goal. About what is a good society. What is a good life. How do we determine truth. Getting the bible out of the discussion. Seems to be a useful first step. I've always been curious about the missionary mind the missionary position. We found that many people who protest at the supreme court's decision said. Many kids would never hear about christ or god. Absurd idea. Christianity is hardly an endangered species i persecuted minority in this country. Contrary to some of the railings on the far right. But so what. What is the source of this notion that everyone has to be introduced to christ or allah. In order that their souls might be saved. Why not leave mine alone. It makes me think that they are insecure in their faith. And only by getting converse do they gain confidence but they might be right after all. The privacy of my soul is also a civil liberty. Hopefully it is very dangerous when a religion is substituted for secular humanist democratic values. Religious leaders are not elected. Elected leaders who listen to god. Are less reliable than the people. And the way you religions focus on sex. Particularly teenage sex amazes me. Want to hear politicians talk about morality. It is about sex. Never about honesty and mutual respect and personal and business dealings. Politicians morality. Never means enron or firing people before their pensions are vested. Morality of civilian casualties. Nor the politics of deceit and character assassination. I suppose maybe. There's a teenager somewhere who spends all of his or her waking hours thinking about abstinence. I never has dreams about romance love and sex. The pain comes neither from mars or venus. But a very distant solar system. Nothing in the bible that is worth anything for sex education. And remember remember how churches for years. Ford against birth control as the gravest of sins and a guaranteed route to the damnation of the nation. And should we really encourage kids to pray. Israeli ask what my kids pray for. You have to appreciate the possibilities. I pray that you grown the second-row might have fun with me in the backseat. I pray that all passed my algebra exam even though i never did the homework. Praying for god to favor our team over our rivals. Well fortunately prayers are really or never answered. But the idea is not good for democratic humanist values. Unless i believe there is an important connection between separation of church and state. And other civil rights and civil liberties. Issues of religion in the public schools and public displays of religious authority. Continue to cause problems. All across the country. Efforts are being made to substitute creationism or creation science. Or its newest guys. Intelligent design. For the teaching of evolution. The strikes. At the heart of education. Deciding truth. Not on the basis of evidence. But on the basis of faith. Or reveal truth. Again i'm always amazed how selectively god reveals truth. You would think you could give his email address to all of us. I believe that the pressures to put prayer and religion in the schools. And other displays of religious authority undermined civil liberties and other areas. Opposition to gay rights for example. Opposition to women's reproductive rights. That was largely from religious dogma. Abstinence. Is religious dogma. In the last century. Prejudice against native americans and blacks had strong religious underpinnings. Particularly in denying of the heathen possess souls. Women getting the right to vote. Today i think. Debate about the complexities of dealing with terrorist threats. And bad governments. Is a. When god and religion. Get mixed up. With patriotism. In the present climate. Civil liberties are one of the first casualties. The forces for conforming. The pressures of fundamentalism are powerful. An absolute. After all the purest puritans did not come here to establish religious freedom. They came to escape repression to be sure. But immediately set up their own repressive regime. And hang very dwyer one boston common. As a heretic. The forces of islamic fundamentalism. Christian fundamentalism. Are awesomely similar. Neither one separation of church and state. Throughout history. Churches and religions have strived to capture the power of government. To promote their own agendas. I desire neither islamic. More christian waugh. Nor any other faith-based government. The fundamentalist absolutist way of thinking. It's one of the greatest threats to civil liberties. Their view is that it is the purpose of government. To serve religion. Their religion of course. I believe we should have secular government and secondary education. That is education that is free not only of sectarianism. But free of all religious doctrine. We kind of course and we should teach about religion. Oddly enough the fundamental was greatly oppose the teaching about religion. I often hear evan jellicles and bishops fulminate against the secular public schools. I'm not sure exactly what they mean. But i suspect they mean that their idea of god is not being promoted. However. I would like to remind them. The airplanes do not stay aloft because of prayer. Butterfly because of good old secular in aeronautical engineering. And the 700 club is broadcast not by god. But as result of good old secular physics. Have a good day as her money rising. I'm reminded that the words liberal and liberties have the same route. I believe that separation of church and state. It's fundamental to both liberal thinking. And all of our civil liberties. There is no first amendment protection against long-winded speakers. This was an oversight by the founding fathers and founding mothers. I can step up to the mic for just a moment it's my custom to sort of frame the initial question. Surprised that you didn't touch on one of the separation of tissues that is most troubled me. Proposal from. Current administration in particular. Usual rules for government funding. Of religiously-based. Social service agency. Should be. There have always been a certain number of functions. Bet. Humanitarian agencies have been able to perform for government i think particularly of the role of helping to resettle refugees. In this country. Opposite of always been down with the usual rules that you can't discriminate. On the basis of religion either in the people that you serve. Or in your own employment practices. If you receive government funding. And under the president's faith-based initiative program. These rules are essentially remove. And i wonder if you just comment a little bit on what do you understand to be the motive behind this. It's not hard to see the motive. Which wants to get reelected is very strongly that the christian evangelical. The idea of faith-based was to encourage. Churches and other religious groups. 2. Enhance their. Shuffle charitable work is being paid by all of us taxpayers. The it's very insidious because just as you mentioned. Religious organizations have not been required to meet the same requirements as the private appointments here in terms of discrimination against minorities and various groups. Think they're not even required to pay social security and other kinds of. Normal taxes. The whole thing happens to undermine. The important guarantees that we've had four employees. In social work kinds of activities. They're not being given the same kind of protection. That they would be working in the private sector. Total amount of money given to the face base. Sleep now 1.4 billion dollars in the last year. So we're not talkin about. Empty. Effort. 2. Useless i think those are purely a political ploy. I think is really quite something with the ministration should be deeply ashamed of. That's not likely to happen. And see who would like to. Director questioner,. Coronavirus. Unitarian church. Extraordinary church. They're only two churches to charge mode they want you losing those days but the churches in philadelphia. And we had a resident minister max bascom. But it was given over to guest speakers almost every sunday. And such notables as paul tillich and reinhold niebuhr. And norman thomas spoken this was very formative in my growing up was a very exciting intellectual environment. I can remember norman thomas who may recall around six times for the presidency on the socialist ticket. And he had a wonderfully. Had a wonderful social conscience and was a. Firing speaker. And you are dormant thomas speak about. Getting up to. Correct the wrongs of the world you wanted to rise from the fuel and go to the barricades. So these were very important. Might understand. How far you go. Graduation ceremonies. Well actually a fair amount has already been done in the us supreme court has ruled in subsequent cases. Weitzman for example. Prayers are graduation ceremonies are not allowed. Prayers are football games or sponsored by the school or not allowed. As required exercises. And there been serious bears offense of course to get around this one of the. About the religious right has formed an organization which intends to be parallel to the aclu. I to champion their view. And of course there's a little bit of conflict between the establishment's idea and the free exercise idea. So these are not always in perfect harmony and sometimes they do. Conflict and also the idea of freedom of speech so. On the other hand if i wish to pray. All of us together decide we want to go out and prayed we have the right to stand in the middle of route 128 and prayed to our hearts content and of course we don't. The issue of chaplains in the armed services is perhaps justified on the grounds that people in the services are removed from their normal environments where they would have access to their normal religious. The idea of prayer of chaplains and the legislature. There's no evidence that their prayers have actually died of good legislation. Or i might mention it's not like that the oath of office but we're also familiar with does not include the phrase so help me god in the constitution. I know what presidents have been adding. This reference to the guidance on their own. Overtime. We've gotten more religious in our public speaking from our elected leaders it seems to be. There's always been a little bit even george washington. But the. Unfortunately to get a constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote. The most recent president reagan. I think that. First of all looking back at the pledge of allegiance. Remember that all of our founding fathers as through abraham lincoln. Never recited the pledge of allegiance in the country seem to have gotten along perfectly well without it. The end. Primarily at the urging of the knights of columbus. And this was very much in the mood of the mccarthy era where we're trying to distinguish us from the godless communist. So is extremely. Charge it and suspect and i don't see that does the least bit of. I don't think. A petition of the place. Does not seem to me to promote. Gentleman patriotic and civic values. Comment.. What's the other one. Frankson and leaving a and whatever. That you have to have a constant repetition of these symbols in your mind and in your heart. American idea. I understand that in the current campaign. There is a republican. Party equipment has gone out. Warning people the election. Goes. People should be prepared to their bible. And i just was reading about this. The internet this morning. Spring spotify. A persecution complex the far-right seems to have. That somehow there's a massive conspiracy to destroy. Traditional christian. With a certain segment of our population. Paranoia. It leads me to to try to ask you to push a little harder on your own understanding of the free exercise clause. Because it's very clear that going from. The case in which you were the principal many years ago. You've been concerned primarily about the government establishment side. Of the first and then. Say a word about church-state separation ism. In relation to free exercise. I don't see that there is a tremendous impairment of the free exercise of religion in this country i don't see that. Social forces and the government are preventing people from going to church's or starting churches or religions or whatever. So i don't. Right wing. Claims that there is an attempt to suppress. I don't think the public displays of religiosity. Public displays of piety. Actually represent experience or value. And therefore the. Symbolism of it is all connected with flag and patriotism and politics and power. So the free exercises not being. You also have to remember that there is any power on earth and either supreme court or otherwise that's going to prevent a kid in school from saying i. And the. Organizing a mass activity. That i found very objectionable. Particularly for example of your non-believer of one. Swiper another. If a whole class is sitting attentively listening to bible reading or standing for the large fire. It's very very top for a 5th grader this is not for me my parents and i don't believe the same thing and i will have to go to the corner of the room or something. One of the reasons. Was because there was an intermediate activity. The original law in pennsylvania. Required that. But. And believe it or not burned and men were killed over winery. And that was a conflict between catholics and protestants. Catholic from ireland and italy another countries. That was martin luther's idea. And. So the idea of the bible being made in the schools so that the kids couldn't hear it. The word of god. Ocean. Motivation. To a large extent of america's public schools have been protestant. The origins of that practice the bible reading in the. Attempt. Other questions and comments. I guess 622 items. Come to my mind. Ian france where they had the kind of public outcry. For the muslims wearing headscarves. So i guess. My question to you is. Thoughts on religion. Paucity. What's the right. Way or better way of trying to handle this and then the second thing. Is how is it that. Our church establishment. Have. Point of view. Both property tax. Income taxes and all that. What's what's the history behind all this and you ever. See that that's going to be changed. About to go to the muslim headscarf issue in france first. Situation then died. Perfectly. Workout view of the matter. Myself. The. Do you want to champion personal individual expression of their religious views. Headscarf and some of the other more. Vibrant displays. Have a separation that's kind of influence and effect and. So i'm somewhat sympathetic to the french government for trying to ban ostentatious display. Belief. Unfortunately it's connected to ethnicity in the whole bunch of other things and so it makes life. As the difficult cases make bad law on this is a difficult case. On the whole life and favor though of more secular secularism and less public piety so against the headscarf. The tax exemption of churches is mirrored with a tax exemption of other charitable institutions like. Social organizations of all kinds. But. Churches taxed but i don't think it's likely to happen in our lifetime. Madalyn murray. That's our case when the supreme court. Was joined by a case that madeline murray later madalyn murray o'hair had started in baltimore maryland. And when they do cases reach the supreme court. The court recognized that they presented the same issue and join the two of them together so actually they issued a single decision. 4. Full name of the case is abington versus camp and marie versus curly. But she subsequently as a very flamboyant. Brought a case to challenge the tax exemption of the churches. And i've thrown out of court like some everly. If the issues presented represents a substantial constitutional issue. Then a. From the district court judges is directly to the supreme court rather than through the appeals court. Because it was on august 5th of 1958 and 1958 was the year i graduated from high school and august 5th was my birthday. Personally objectionable to me and what were my religious thoughts and. Religious teachings of my family that that's different with the. Morning devotions bible reading practices was been carried out. Constitution i'm reader series and how. I don't remember whether it actually mentioned god but it had a very. High moral tone to it and the intent was to public education. To develop a citizenry that had a moral conscience and. I think in order to refute some of the. Republican right-wing movements about religion in school. There has to be a well-articulated position about how. Does public education. Create the kind of citizens that we. I think it's doable i work in education but it's very difficult now. Teachers to deal with moral questions. Staying away from religion so do you have any thoughts on that. Teach moral values and sense of social distancing. Is. It's challenging. But it seems to be just as challenging with or without the bible. From the ten commandments. And this whole idea that our rights are given by our creator. Founding fathers with very good thoughts. Work. For my party do. To me that's kind of perspective to think of what. I had the. To teach these kinds of. So that's why i think that we've got. Appreciating diversity. Lexington school. Midnight really got a very good. Dose of understanding how to treat our fellow their fellow students in a way that is. We're never going to pretend that the schools are going to replace a bad home environment. So you know the school can help. But they got a bad home environment is going to screw up kids. I want to go back to. Point of. And i think it's something that. Preschool. Every hour of the day absolutely. On and on and on. As a. Why did they do it. And maybe what was the right thing. You're exploring all of them. The bible. Bye-bye. Just. Awareness. How people are treating one. What they bring from the home. Good morning. Fortune when i was in high school of having an extraordinarily good english teacher who taught us to do think and forces to write a 500-word essay. Pedro 16500 words sounded like go. Logic blocks back in the bible itself. What the idea was. And encourage us to try out notions and see how well they could be defended. And in the sign language class we read this. And there's situations where people have had to deal with complex. A nobler object. This virtually limitless. We choose. From to small range. For what's actually available to teach. Provide examples. Based on your thoughts about the veiled head scarf for the muslim women. What do you think about unitarians wearing the flaming chalice pants in public. The chains around the neck. Social impact. The headscarf is such as so much more. Distinctive and. To some extent represents are very much larger. Separateness from the. Prevailing societies that it seems to be to be measurably different. 2. As i said i don't think i have a workout. Possession on this. I'm sympathetic however tube. Excessive display is over. But people are wearing. Crosses and other kinds of christian symbols are being banned equally. They banning doesn't come down. I've been spending this past week reading the wonderful. Memoir. Bios. Iranian. That woman down entitled reading lolita in tehran. Enforced society. As an interpretation of the quran. Of course makes one aware of how the implication of the bail. Is 1. That. Subordinate. And makes them. Equal members. Society. That's where my discomfort. And i support that where it doesn't come to where. Cross. Or some other. Ocean of one's own faith orientation. But i agree with you completely is a very difficult. The man. Come to notre dame. Europe's leading progressive. Islamic scholar. Rather arbitrary reasons. Decipher. Has taken the position. That he opposes. Their term for church state separation. Insofar as it impacts the bill. The personal expression issue. As much more of the universal. But i think that this is one on which we even within french society. You have serious human rights activist. Who have come down on both sides. Reminds me of some of the tougher calls. Here in america around. Holiday. Yes. There's also somewhat difficult. The idea that christmas can be would be totally unacknowledged in the public school seems to be going a bit too far. 2. Make everybody favorite christmas carols maybe also going a bit too far so one has to have a little balance here. So. Due to christmas. Although i understand some schools in california are trying to do exactly that. Needham. Out where i service the secretary of the clergy association. Last year i was treated to a rather. A difficult. Clergy association. About the practice of having a member of the local clergy. Attend the lighting of what is known here in town is the blue tree. On the town,. This is an occasion to takes place. At the end of the thanksgiving holiday in the beginning of the shopping. And it is attempted primarily by the appearance of santa claus on a fire truck. It is not a deeply traditional religious occasion. And what we had run into town for some 50 years. Run into was that there was an increasing discomfort among the clergy. About. Offering prayer on this occasion. Followed by the singing of. Such traditional carols is o come all ye faithful. The entire thing seemed to be a dreadful mixed metaphor. And the rabbis. Profess themselves not fully. Mollified by the fact that the tree was blue. It was still a christmas tree. And they were not going to. Participate. In this occasion. I must say i thought we came out with a marvelous a typical american compromise. Will accommodate venetum downtown business association. And pure on this occasion of those of us who would rather not. Will not. I bet those are other very difficult very public. Distinctions that end up being made. About. As an expression. Really have to believe that. To try to do that. The standards of. The enlightenment. Yes impact. Half the supersede ultimately. The particularities of religious tradition when it comes to the public. Route of absolutely right. And it's only two mako back to the point of thousands of your teachers and people and education were making. Number 3 website. In terms of establishing what are going to be our fundamental values in terms of how each other and what is a just society and i also urge all of you to take a look at the website. Well i think we should one more question over here with me. I yes i have to admit that i'm a bit disturbed by some of what i hear from you in terms of. Let's start with the headscarf issue in france. For the government. Has. Band a form of. Personal expression. And let's. Continue with the notion of teaching. Humanist values in school while keeping. Right-wing christian values out and the notion that some religions are more equal than other. But it seems to me that the key issue. In schools in particular is the right of the state. Or the community to impose. Religious behavior. Individual that would include active religious behavior like reading bible verses and it would include passive religious behavior like not wearing a headscarf. First of all i think it's important to point out that it's been banned in the schools. But just not as an organized public requirement. Deciding just where at least line should be drawn a certain way of an ongoing issue in american society that is going to be a subject of democratic debate for as long as. The first amendment is on the books and long may it wave. Lr8 i want to thank you for stimulating our discussion our guest today ellery count.

uuneedham_org

040926_Lyceum3_Davidoff%20.mp3

Unitarian universalist. A forum on public affairs. On issues of culture. And science. Each week here in the old meeting house it's our privilege to have a distinguished guest who brings to us. And this morning the 2004 electoral campaign seems to a religion. In politics. Who served for eight years as the chief officer of the unitarian universalist association the moderator who presides over our general assemblies and our board of trustees. My partner in leadership during the time that i served as president i'm john buren's the minister of first parish in needham. She is a wonderful wonderful catalyst. True democratic leadership and interfaith cooperation she comes to us today as the president of the interfaith alliance foundation. The most important organization in america for the proper engagement. I'll get use of public import and the religious world i give you the neistadt tap davidoff. It's always good to be in the same place that you are in. Being a partner. News release. From the interface alliance immediate-release september 20th 2004. Today the interface alliance called on president for student email into west virginia. The associated press. The literature. A man on his knees placing a ring on the hand of another man. Allowed. The mailing west virginians to quote to protect our families and defeat. Liberal agenda. Religious morality has received divine endorsement said the reverend seawell president of the interfaith alliance interfaith. We call on the president and republican national committee chair of religion in this nation. Manipulation of religion for partisan purposes has no place in a democracy constitutional guarantee of the freedom of religion. The new york times. September 24th. 2004. Yesterday of two states. It's of its effort to mobilize religious voters for president bush. The mailings include images of the labeled band marriage proposal. A maryland to residence once this if you don't vote. A similar mailing was sent. To west virginians. A liberal religious group e of the arkansas to publicize it. They are doing is despicable said don parker a spokesman for the alliance. And emotions. Of 1994. I received a phone call from a woman named jill. She said she was the executive director of an organization information called the interfaith alliance. Its board of directors would be made up of religious leaders who shared a concern about the growing influence of the extreme. Intertwining with the congress. And the contract with america. Its mission would be to respond to the christian coalition. Jill and company unitarian universalist. Consider joining joe campbell the secretary general of the national council of churches. Bishop francis murphy of baltimore commencing you minister to president and mrs. clinton in washington. In alexandria virginia of the first ame church of los angeles. Well i said. General assembly for the first time. Send me some information. Aaron's and his church. To do public witness. I couldn't help but notice a religious leader on the board. With all due respect to joan wasn't exactly overloaded with women. I would be number two. So on july 14th 1994 shuttle from new york of the new york avenue presbyterian church. On 13th street to prepare ourselves for a press conference at the capitol. The birth of the interfaith alliance to a predictably prescott. We waited. Immediate past moderator at the time of the presbyterian church. Usa and a new board chair. On the today show. Opposite jerry falwell. September 13th 2004. I'm reading you. From speech. And ceo. National press club. The truth. He was of course. Largely to journalists. Religion in this nation. Sidwell is diverse and divided. The united states is now the most religiously pluralistic nation in the world. Beauty that should accompany such marvelous diversity among religions in the united states. Is being distorted divisiveness inside denominations and between religious traditions. The ugliness that characterizes the religious community commitment to the cause of peace and justice. But we say we share. The wide-ranging importance of this region in the nation. Is tightened considerably by other divisions in the nation. Economic. Racial. Education. And political divisions. The nation of being white and hardened. During this year of national elections. Amanda election-year politicizes virtually every aspect of life religion to bears the marks of politicization. The nation that values religion. This nation needs to experience the very phenomenon which is the focus of religions central work. Reconciliation. Divisions within religion itself on making it almost impossible for religious communities to demonstrate. The positive and healing and their religions. Religion is being hijacked. And exploited. Nation is becoming more deeply divided. In the interest. A partisan politics. The story of religion in this year's national elections. Is not simply a documentation of the occasional use of religious language by politicians. Or the partisan political words. And actions. A religious leaders. It's not just about. The story of jo was in the christian bible. It is a story about. Abuse of religion. An intrusion into religious institutions. As well as the integrity of religion. Right now. Scheduled for a vote. Before congress recesses for the national elections. Is a legislative proposal that if the religious right gets its way will permit houses of worship. To endorse candidates for public support to partisan campaigns. Just in time for november's election. This is the jonesville. Defeated. Twice not let out of committee. Twice. A congress on it's wiser days. American jobs creation act. Of 2004. In one of my lives i am a longtime board member. Connecticut workforce investment board. And. To the american jobs creation act. As it is. Implemented every year by by the congress. It seems amazing to me. Which would further erode the wall of separation between the institutions of religion and government reversing irs regulations that prohibit worship from engaging in partisan politics. Lives. Despite continued efforts. To kill it. Lives. Because. The people who would erode religious liberty. Never rest. They never rest. They never give in. And they won't until they win. So. What does the interface alliance and the interface alliance foundation. Believe in. We promote the healing the positive healing role of faith. And civic life. And we challenge intolerance and extremism. We are rooted in tradition the world and we offer americans a mainstream religious agenda committed to individual. And the importance of community. We currently have. Over 150,000 members with celebrating at 10th anniversary this summer. And we have. Alliances. In40. Different states. Obviously some states have more than one local alliance. For those of you who have not had enough coffee this morning. For participation in the political process by people of faith. And against the view of the religious right that one's political beliefs. Are a measure of one's faith. We stand for the preposition that america's diverse religious heritage is its greatest asset. And against the notion that only the majority face tradition deserves public acknowledgment and respect. We stand for the view that the different faith traditions should have a voice in our public nation's public life and be free to engage their prophetic voice. Opposed to use government resources or authority to give special preference to a particular religious institution or view. We stay for inclusion and diversity in american society and oppose efforts to sow discord and hate especially under the guise of religion. We stand for healthy interaction between religion and government. And against efforts to impose religious. Litmus tests on public policy. In 1994. 10 years ago. To get religious leaders to become on the board of this. Fledgling organization. We saw a mission. As rooted in opposition. To the work that ralph reed was doing. For the christian coalition. Because we were. Against. Because we were able from the beginning to work. The inspector gingrich. To the work of ralph reed. Democrats. Opposed. To the republicans. It has taken 10 years and the brilliant work of wilton year as their ceo. To achieve what we always needed to achieve which is sufficient respect. On the hill and in the press. For non-partisan stance. So that. Criticize. People from both parties. Beyond both parties. As rooted in. A tradition of fairness. Partisan. Politically. I wanted to say that because i just talk. As well as should i reading you the most current. News release and it's and it's aftermath publication in in in the newspaper like the new york times and of course all over the country that press picked it up. It is a source of deep tragedy to me as a student of political science. And a citizen and a patriot. Toosii. The republican party. Engage in the kind of. Work that they. I've done just this past week in arkansas and west virginia and it will go on it is out of control. On november 3rd. No matter. Has done. At the polls on november 2nd. And citizens need to know. Whatever happens november. Divided nation. And that is truly the tragedy. And the healing of that division. Is the work of the future. Thank you. My custom always to offer a first question before i go. Ask microphone to members of the audience. That i recall the interfaith alliance. Candidates of the democratic party for. Houses of worship as a backdrop. For their own candidacies and. Criticizing members of the clergy. 4 years ago. Because we felt that this is my own senator that he was really over the top. About his use. Of of the language of his face. We would not reserved about criticizing him. About presidents. Little bit more about that. We have been since the very beginning. The congress. Twice. And the senate having rejected the faith-based initiative the president nonetheless. As he is wont to do. Made it happen through executive order. Is is the small. Irrigations and i speak of the snow in the most idealistic language. Or churches or mosque or synagogue gatherings of buddhists or hindus or james. Or whatever. Taking advantage. Of of of of of the protocols that are available to the president. People to take advantage of the faith-based initiative. It's a federal. Houses of worship would be responding to it is an in the wonderful ways of federal bureaucracy it is 69 pages long. Perhaps in the commonwealth of massachusetts or any of the other state the the document would only be forty-seven pages long. Cute stiff at first parish of needham. With all of its expertise in federal way taking the time to fill out. Such a yam. Such a proposal so even though it sounds like. This is a program that would help. A small congregation engage in wonderful social service worker who could really use some money and doesn't want to proselytize or evangelize the spirit and the letter of the program it's impossible. Who has the wherewithal to deal with the specimens of money. The salvation army has. Pat robertson's. 700 club has had over half a billion dollars. A big staff. Have received. The money. Everybody in this room knows that even with. Sanctions. Written in and there aren't many sanctions written in the implication being that if you proselytizing discriminate if you get this money. And you discriminate and refuse to hire somebody who is gay. Believes in any way contrary to the belief system is the organization of the faith-based. There is no. Assessing. So. Very very unhappy with the system and where it's broken down john is that. Lived in the government that was tripartite. The chief executive wanted to do something. The legislative branch. Didn't think was a good idea. And the congress said no. That's not what's happening today. The rather. Use of this kind of government money. To provide incentives to. Selected religious communities. I'm reminded that john deyulio the. I resigned his post saying that in every discussion he had sat through. On the questions of the faith-based initiative program. It was political considerations rather than actual outcomes on poor people that were. You know what's interesting going back to my work. Offered us. True ceo of workplace. $100,000. Out of the money that she has the the faith-based department. Become. Which is. Groups. Council. Stations. Which video. Directly to people in w. In our country people in poverty people people who are not receiving the full benefits of education i mean all the needs. Of the oppressed being used to pay. Bureaucrats. 2. To counsel. Is going. It's. It's obscene is what it is. Comments and questions from audience. Which one can be tolerant of the intolerant. And i guess. I find myself sort of in righteous indignation which i guess is. Circleville luxury. And the present circumstances because. I think that the lines are clearly drawn i mean. It's almost as if we have another. Second american revolution on our hands. And it's within our own country. And i guess. No it's wonderful for you to be at you could do and so forth but. At some point we call a spade a spade. Hand indicate. Where these people are stray and completely australian take a stand. So that's my concern. 8 with sympathy. Unitarian universalist because i have. In order to deal with my own anger and fear and frustration i have finally taken to prayer which i find. Very useful. Each and everyone of us. Has to take. Is getting the vote up on november 3rd we need to go to the bedrock. Of our countries. Process. And. The vote. On november 2nd. This is the first morning in many that i have not won. Out of respect for being in a. And isaiah have some for ship. My partisanship. As a private citizen. And to engender conversation. And when people say i like your button. I talked to them about registering to vote to vote about getting the vote out. Intuit that all their friends and relatives and and colleagues at work at and everybody votes because. We can be indignant and we are we can be in despair and we are but we must act. And the only action available to us and the best possible one. Right now. Is. Is to take action on election day. I really have fun two questions or comments. And listening to your last free marks before the questions. It seemed like. Your main concern really could be characterized as. The practicalities of administering the program to get money into. What might otherwise be done if beneficial purposes. And did not. Address to sort of more fundamental theoretical. Church separation of church and state separation. I wonder if. If it's true that if the practical problems if the if the document wasn't forty-seven pages it was a two or three and a large staffs it would still have the same objections with the second commented. You talked about the separation of powers and i wonder if you could comment on whether or not there's been any. Involvement of the courts the third branch in terms of challenges to the kind of program that we don't talk anymore. What to answer to your first question. I believe that the whole face face initiative. What is erosion. Of the separation of church and state. I also acknowledge. With anxiety. Country and our culture has been drifting for that 25 years. To the right. Maybe it's because we don't teach civics anymore maybe but somehow. Distortions. As a consumerist nation as an entertainment obsessed nation as a media obsessed nation with a media that in my opinion no longer does its job. We don't see with clarity. This issue of the separation of church and state it's not just as wrong. That bothers me is really generational. And it's very very disturbing. So if i weren't about the practicality i would be the lack of separation and i appreciate. You're bringing that up the courts. Are mixed. Which is the good news and the bad news there have been several opinions on the variety of pieces of legislation. From federal district courts the same with with same-sex marriage and other issues of. Of social concern some judges. With the work of the interfaith alliance and many judges. Or not. One of the things that concerns me is that a judiciary is growing more and more conservative. And an actually religiously. Right. Because the congress has let. People people be nominated and and affirmed who i think are wrong for the federal bench. In terms of opinions. Even the level of the supreme court as you know. Both of these issues of separation denny the separation of church and state and the separation of powers in government. Same to me do it to revolve around issues of maintaining an independent voice. That is able to check a dominant majority. The role of one of the things that has gone somewhat onset is that our shared concern for government not bribing. Religious leaders and their communities. Is that those religious leaders in communities have within our. Social history. A prophetic function. Calling. Government to account. Around issues of justice. Noting that the congress. Again. Half. A piece of legislation. To prohibit. The courts. The constitutionality. Of their action. Now this is. Kindergarten. The congress six. Get its majority vote to prohibit the courts. Going to pass legislation. Prohibited the supreme court from hearing. Cases. Involving the pledge of allegiance. Under.. It's an arrogance that i can almost. They're insane. Read a cartoon. About separation of powers. Reflecting on the state of. In russia. It showed. The executive power. The legislative power. Comment underneath was separation of powers. The only difficulty was that the same gentleman vladimir putin but showing as occupying the executive power the legislative power and the judicial power. Seems to me that one of the reasons. Public discussion of what is happening. Is that. Concern. About maintaining independent. Checks against dominant majorities. In our present a media environment and political culture. Whatever whatever became of courage and prophecy from the. From the pulpit and why is it. Religious leaders in in the grandest tradition. Of america i'm not speaking out. I think many bizarre. Experience has been. That the polarization of opinion. In the media. Tends to set things up. So that the religious right. Will be heard because of its extremism. It is set however not again. Moderate and progressive religious leaders. But it is almost invariably set against. A secular. Always finds its spokesperson. And solve the element that drops out of the press and the media who is trying to mediate. Terms about about the role of religion. Gone. In the. of the civil rights. Movement. In opposition to the war in vietnam. And in the number of civil rights issues since. There is an increasing encroachment. Of. What can only be described as a the consumer culture. Absolutely. Which causes many religious leaders. To be overly cautious offend. The market is what we press club. Turmoil over social issues going on. Concerned about being a mediating influence and a divided congregation in the divided presbyterian in a divided. Episcopacy. Issues. 40 people who are fearful. Another element that people have not recognized is that. Particular. The soul ascension. In many houses of worship and in many. Denomination. In order to prevent. Say the bishops of the methodist church more courageous on on some issues. I was just a spanish during my term of office to see how often when i went to washington. To meet with religious leaders of other denominations. On serious public issues. Are we would be dogs by people from the so-called institute for religion & democracy. Pennsylvania. And was deliberately designed to say if i were on a platform with a woman who is bishop for the methodist church. To accuse her. By sharing some social concern with me embarrass her and division in her.. Woods woods with what appear on my. Computer screen was the attack of the of the idcc identifying me as a director of the interfaith alliance and then noted. Forgot. 30 years as being. Pro-choice. Which which pain access as a nonpartisan group. To the white house's has not been in the white house. Since. March of 2000. January the doors are shut. Presence. Start of the follow-up on the issue you've been addressing on this island. Barney. It seems to me that one factor you don't mention. Is that. Mainstream clergy. A very sensitive. Especially now. 2. The issue of keeping. Religion out of politics. And that many clergy may well feel it would be inappropriate. As well as the illegal. 2. Advocate a particular candidate in the coming election. And this is why you don't. Here. Are part of the reason why you don't hear. Mainstream clergy coming out and saying that president bush is an agent of the devil. Which would actually be improper from a puppet. Yes. We're at the religious right to the irs. Whereas the religious right has no such inhibitions and they've been getting away with it. It seems to me this is entirely parallel to the political situation. In which. The democrat. Happened very polite. And the republican. Haven't the slightest inhibition about mudslinging or as your opening reading. Indicated. Right. Lie. And no one. Including lee. Negative. Comments in the new york times what you quoted on there. This is a complete lie. That's not nice don't do it. I think. Black. Has been too polite to the point of being. Too cowardly. In the face of an opponent who does not recognize the rules of fair play. And. Respect for those rules. We have to respond. Martha. Over the issues of assist 23 years ago of. Universal sociation. Church. To be distributed in the church. Of their rub of above of their position in terms of b. National council of churches of of of organizations which are at once. Unique and end in coalition in an agony of these issues have brought a number of suits. The wheels of justice grind very slow. And. And as i said before and you have just echoed overlook. And overlook the traditions of our country. Which is crusader like as that man dancing of the crusades in history. They believe they are right. And when you believe. That you are right and you have power. The ends. Justify the means. And that's what we're dealing with and you of course have been very articulate about that. I don't know how many here saw the same headline i did but it was back. At the time the first the gay marriages were about to be performed in unitarian church. Was featured. And described as an obscure boston sect. Remember that. And it's not ella space the point if that was made by barry goldwater long time ago the country just wants to show up. The northeast and floated out to sea. And we really are those of us who have any contacts or travel anywhere in the country. Are frequently traded to a basically. Fundamentalist rhetoric and fundamentalist programming. Even the drivers of hertz buses invoke jesus to get to the other end of the line. I think i would have statistics. Perhaps as high as 40 or 50%. Maybe more i thought the numbers of the country. Identify themselves as fundamentalist christian. Interserv illustrates the problem that. You were talking about about polarization and and. Is it a trend which is going to increase indefinitely and is the country going to become. Like an islamic republic in religious ideals and ideas. Checks are going to actually. Change the fundamental nature of the country dc that is a problem. I personally believe. My personal view. Stopped. Of the country with regard to religious liberty. Will be damp down and and and could be eventually eliminated by the way speaking of obscurity i was really happy to hear. Your puke ali behind you refer to us as part of the mainstream. Which. Which i love to think about we should all act as if we are part of the mainstream but you will recall that not just a few minutes ago i made comment about the fact that what used to be the proudest in the gemini. In this country. Isn't that statistically. No longer it's not america's mainline religions. And this is a trend that's been happening for 25 years. Part of it is. Due to the increased secularization. Of the country and part of it a lot better this due to the growth of of of. A fundamental fundamentalist. Christian's meanwhile the whole country is diana. Eastern religions particular. I'll coming into the country so that in chicago and jews for the first time. The nature of the country. Even while we are fighting the issue. From the current administration christianity. Meanwhile every everything else. Is changing as well and i think it's i think it's. A critical time. I am haunted by this. I hope all of you are i hope you're all scared silly. But i hope that you are not paralyzed in your fear every single one of us needs to speak up. And speak out and do something and i would exhort you. 222 understand that being. A member of a face tradition in this case and this sunday unitarian universalist. It is a sacred obligation. To do this work. Thank you so much. Summons to action. Ordered here in an old house. Reminds me how our forbearers. Those who created the basic structures. I've government. In this land. And we saw the meeting house as a place where the people would come together. For reflection. On the great emergency. Stop the time. Well you've honored to meetinghouse by summoning us to an important emergency of our time. And that is the very preservation. Of our best traditions. Our tradition of a dynamic separation. Between. The political establishment. And the religious conference. And for a preservation of the separation of powers within our government itself.

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20130331_0193_easter_ressurrection_christian_schmidt_sermon.mp3

So today's i talk about jesus it's only fair to give you a little background on how i came to know jesus i suppose. I started seminarian texts for you here alot about jesus. At a place called austin presbyterian theological seminary which yes is presbyterian very reformed very orthodox theological. And one of the first classes i took there was called systematic theology. Which is sort of a survey course in theology that tries to integrate different theological concepts and show how they relate to each other. Hence the systematic. My professor was the reverend dr. cynthia rigby or cindy as she required us to call her. I loved her she's engaging she's really interested in what students think she's funny brilliant. Person of deep faith. So few weeks into the first semester. Something happened that really. Brought me to a pause. The assignment was to write a paper on christology that is. A paper about the theology of jesus christ. And not just about what he thought about who he is and what that means. So as a u u. Someone who had not grown up as a christian despite my first name. Or even i hadn't even gone up in a church really i wasn't. Eager to write a paper about jesus. Even though i was in seminary. And one of my classmates also unitarian universalist had s*** even less interest in writing this paper than i did. So we went to speak to cindy. And we talked about. Who we were and why we didn't really want to write this paper and if there was some other assignment the maybe we could do instead. She listened as she took a second she thought about it. And then she asked a question and this is what really brought me to oppose. She said. So if you're going to be a minister people are going to ask you about jesus even if you're you you. What are you going to say. And since i didn't have any good answer to that question she made her point i thought i should actually write this paper. I did. Or rather i should say started trying to write that paper because i still didn't know what i was going to say to that after all. So i went back and did some reading. I knew what i. Didn't think about jesus if you know what i mean. Didn't think he was a god. Much less a trinity of god be anxiety. I was sort of skeptical as a miracle healings and such. But i realize the talking about things i didn't think wasn't the point of the exercise i was supposed to write about what i did actually think. And so i did that reading. I reread the gospels especially matthew and luke. I asked friends for suggestions of theologians that they thought might be thinking the same thing i was which since i still didn't know what i was thinking was a little difficult. But my friends get some good answers they said you should try out howard thurman jesus and the disinherited the little book it's really good read. Or maybe hosea ballou the great universalist theologians a treatise on atonement. Which is better than the title makes it sound a promise. Now i'm doing this and reading these i realized that i didn't know jesus that well and i liked the jesus i read about. This was someone i admired someone who lived a life of principle did what he felt was right even when it ran contrary to. His professed religious beliefs even if that meant suffering and die. He lived a life of simple acts of deep faith of great love. He was an example that i could. Have a life that i completed. But it's more than that to. Does the answer i've given you so far might be characterized as jesus as the moral exemplar a good example for us to look at. But i think jesus is more than that. One of the descriptions one of the metaphors jesus uses about himself. Is the way. And that's something that resonates with me more and more as i go through my life. As you use we often talk about our faith is a journey. Talk about where we've come from what faith we grew up and even if that was unitarian universalism. How we grown how we changed. How we've come to church or drifted away at times. And this resonated with what i knew of other religions traditions to. I've always been attracted to taoism and. Dial literally means. Way. It's the way a way of being in the world. During the time i spent a couple summers ago at tsubaki grand shrine historic shinto shrine in japan. I learned a lot about shinto. Which. Also uses that word way it means way of the commie. Dial and tow are the same word they come from the same root word in chinese the japanese adopted many many years ago. I like this metaphor of the way. It's more than teaching. It's more than anything else it means this is how i conceive of his life and message. Jesus shows us a way to live our lives it's not about getting to heaven. It's not about a goal at all it's about being here in the moments. It's not a way that all of us are likely to follow or even understand i don't pretend to. It was not an easy thing for me to arrive at. But now i often look to jesus's words and life as a way for me to understand the world and a way to live my life. Innocence. So on this day of easter i celebrate the jesus does live on. I don't much care whether jesus was bodily resurrected or not. He is risen he lives on in my heart and in my life. And his way is the way i choose to try to live even when i fail so often. I come back to the way. And i start over again.

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20121202_light_one_candle_katie_lee_sermon.mp3

Early. This fall when i came up with this title. Light one candle. I had a completely different sermon in mind. For this morning. And i wanted to listen i want us to listen again to the famous familiar and ancient stories. Stories with some basis in historical fact. That over the centuries have become archetypal stories. We returned to again and again and again. To make meanings for ourselves. Stories we teach to our children generation after generation. Stories to mine each year. Each century. For new and nuanced meaning. Stories about waiting. Expectancy. About something wildly improbable that turns out to be important. Stories about love and peace. Enjoy and justice. And freedom. And then. The israelis and the palestinians started lobbing missiles back and forth at each other. And thousands are once again protesting in tahrir square. And mohamed morsi the man whose leadership. They gave to him only months ago. They are now protesting. Is the same man. Who became an unlikely ally. By joining a team that helped broker a ceasefire. Between the palestinians and the israelis. Why. Because he had credibility with how moss. It seems there are no clear lines of distinction between enemy and friend. If in fact there ever were any. The stories playing out before our eyes each day. Are taking place on the same soil. As these ancient stories we tell and retail every year. In the context of these present realities i had to ask myself. Hard questions. Hard question. Were those motley maccabean guerrilla fighters. Extremist. Like, sore the taliban. Justifying violence as a mandate from god. Where the syrian leader's then like the syrian leader's now greedy demagogues who abused power for their own game. Score. Were the maccabees simply. Ordinary citizens. Trying to overcome fanatics. Who had imposed a hostile culture on their land. What would we call it. Was there a holy war in the language of islam does she have. Was it in the language of christianity a crusade. Or was it something more like the occupy movement. A home-grown protest of ordinary people. Intent upon calling attention to injustice. I only have the questions. I don't know the answers. As i thought about hanukkah this year usually a joyful celebration of life i couldn't help but see the other side of the story. I see how the hanukkah story at least the historical part of the story is a template for so many other struggle for religious freedom throughout history. We are still kindling lights in the darkness against injustice everywhere. And yet paradoxically we still dare to hope for the outrageous promise of freedom and justice everywhere. Why. Because. Well. This is why i think why. Because it's not the conviction that something will turn out well. But the certainty. That's something makes sense regardless of how it turns out. So. Advent isn't so naive and benign as this once catholic schoolgirl understand it's understood it many years ago. But it still holds meaning for me. For me it's still about waiting. It's still about possibility. And about it's about. An outrageous hope. Hope against hope. For peace on earth. My understandings are more like those of jan richardson a contemporary christian writer. Who wrote this. Advent poem. For reflection. There is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before. It isn't possible to keep it from coming because it will. What is possible is not to see it. To miss it. The term just as it brushes by you as you begin to grasp what you missed. So stay. Linger. Terry ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. They'll be enough time for running. For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now. Wait. Something. Is on the horizon. And regina lapointe writing in the 1950s. Was a universalist. Who made sense of advent this way. We who are ensnared in the message. The measures of complex living. Who sings beauty. And send our spirits in quest of it. Who's every longing is for the quiet of deep woods or the turbulent life of the open sea. Whose every move to burst asunder. The shackles of limited living. Is the spirit of one seeking wholeness in freedom. We who are ensnared in the meshes of complex living. Whose every move. To burst asunder the shackles of limited living. Is the spirit of one who is seeking wholeness in freedom. I read this before but this year it was those words seeking wholeness and freedom really. Came home to me. Because i see it today as an interesting interpretation of both. The hanukkah and the advent messages. Is seeking wholeness and freedom even possible. Is it an outrageous hope that we dared to seek in spite of all obstacles. I want it to be. Does it matter. Maybe it's one of those things one of those things that makes sense. Just makes sense regardless of how it turns out. So however you may analyze it for yourself. These ancient stories offerup comparisons. Close comparison saturn. Right turns out right now. Two contemporary issues. Listening to these ancient stories in today's context. We come face-to-face with the same issues that the stories are dealing with. The same issues ironically. That humans have been struggling with for centuries. And we're still struggling. It does suggest that were right to think of them as archetypal stories. About the human. Struggle. I do want to believe it's possible freedom. Injustice. Joy and hope and peace on earth i do want it. To believe it's possible. And i want to believe in the power of a light in the darkness. Hand outstretched in a child. In a womb. And i want to believe that all of us everywhere who are ensnared and in the meshes of complex. Living can still make a difference. I want to believe that anyone of us for many of us working together even forging. Very unlikely alliances. Can break the shackles of limited living and dare. Dr2c colonists and freedom. I know it's unlikely. But hope start small. And overtakes us stretching the borders of what we have now. With all that we know and all that we've seen do we dare. Hope. 4 piece. Do we dare not to. Remember the stories. In spite of the violence in spite of the greed and the rhetoric and the posturing. Remember compassion for people whose sacred ground and holy stories. Hampden fought for. Over and over for centuries. And remember to. Those who dared to hope. In the face of outrageous odds. Remember at their core these two ancient stories. Teach the same to lessons. Over and over again. One about the freedom to be who we are. And the other. About an outrageous hope. That it is actually possible. To live in peace. I'm asking you to join me in that closing prayer. It wasn't written for this particular time. It was written sometime in the early 2000s. And in spite of all my best efforts to try to find my documentation that tells me. When it was written and where it was published i failed. And still it seemed too important not to bring it this morning. So in the spirit of prayer let us do this as a responsive reading. Return to the god in the hearts of all praying people. To the god in the hearts of muslims in the highest month of ramadan. To the god in the hearts of the jews in the month of kislev. To the god in the hearts of the inhabitants of israel and that land some call palestine. In this shattered time of peacemaking. To the god such as we know. In our own hearts. For the killing blood has spilled from the cover of a dark heart over the holy tiles of a sacred place. Enter the markets the fields the homes the streets. And only by marci. The mercy of hope. The mercy of will the mercy of reason will innocent hearts remain free of its darkness. For the wrath of anger has covered the cries of peace and the songs of grief has settled upon the songs. Of rejoicing. And the prayers of the morning lie upon the prayers of hope. Only by mercy willis sweet sounds rise again. We turn to the god in the hearts of all praying people. Let the blood of life run and healthy veins and the songs of hope lift upon the breeze of life. In the beginning was the word and the ear to hear let let this be a beginning also. The true were spoke. The truthful are. The power to tell. The will to answer. The hope to continue. The grace to receive. The time is at hand earned of undeserved toil made fruitful. By the new love. Called. Compassion. May it be so shalom. Sala.

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20130106_beginning_middle_ending_katie_lee_crane_sermon.mp3

Today we mark the past year's beginnings and endings. But the fact is. Did everyone sitting here. This morning. It's somewhere in the middle. Everyday sometimes many times a day we struggle with all kinds of ending. Even as we juggle new beginnings. It's trying to make sense of what happens in the. Everything in between. That's part of the sacred pilgrimage. We call. Life. I love how real salamence the constant swings of daily life. If just for once. Casual events woodhall. If the machine would run down. If only we could take a brass and stopping. But it rarely happens. We must breathe time like fishes breathe water. Real cuz poem reminds me of the work of robert keegan i've spoken about him before some of you may know his work. He's made quite an impression on me and how i live my life. Keegan is a professor at the harvard graduate school of education. Whose research combines. Psychology. Theology. Philosophy and literature. He's the author of several books. Including the one that's had its profound effect on me the evolving self. Problem and process in human development. The essence of the book as i understand it is this. That life is a constant process process. Between moving. Between balanced and unbalanced. Balance. An invalid. Back and forth back and forth. And it's a constant it's not just this nice easy swing it's this constant. Tension. Back and forth. Pulled. Into direction. Being in balance keegan says. Isn't the goal. Living with the tension. So keegan set out to build on the work of other scholars who had examined biological social psychological moral and faith development. Because he wanted to create a model of human development. Integrated all of these aspects of ourselves. This is what his model looks like. Human development he says is a series of swing. From. Holding on. To letting go. Holding on. To letting go. Holding on. To hatching out. But as you can see there's something else about his model. And that is. It's doesn't stay static. We hold on we had child we move forward. But we're still moving forward in a pattern. It goes a little like. This isn't something we choose consciously that. This. It's just something that is. Any calls the place between balanced and unbalanced transitional time. That moment when you're able to hold the balance just so. That place between places. Between origin and destination. I don't need to tell anyone here the transition can be full of upheaval. It might be difficult and disturbing. And it can be. A time of great growth. And it's there in that place between places in that place of tension. Where we human beings make meaning. Where we find our center. Zayn and perrie makes the same point using a different image uses. Swinging on a trapeze. So the flyer takes a few deep breaths and centers herself and then jumps off the platform into midair. That's what it often feels like when you're making a major transition in life. Whether you choose it. Or it's thrust upon you. It feels like jumping into the void. But then something happens. And she looks up when she sees the empty tray trapeze bar swinging toward her. And she. Have to grab it. And of course. We see opportunities coming toward us. And we. Grab one. But to do that. We have to totally release our grasp. On the old bar. And her lacrosse space before we can grab the new one. The nuvar. Perry says. Is our growth. Aliveness. Coming together. I love that image. There you are. Letting go of one thing. To grab onto another. With nothing underneath you. And this guy says. This is your aliveness coming to get you. He believes the transition zone is the only place where real change occurs. And in spite of sometimes our pain and fear of being out of control. The still can be the most. Growth field. Passionate. Expensive moments in our lives. I'm part of a small group of women with. Spiritual practice that we do together. And the practice includes many forms. Difference forms sometimes singing sometimes moving. Sometimes silence for exploring our inner lives. And one of the forms that i love. Invites us to tell a story with our body. And we call these big body stories. Well here's a big body story that my friend pam told recently. I won't do her version credit but i'm going to try. So her son ben and her niece miriam have taken up. The sport of slack rope walking. Now i don't know i didn't know what that was but slack rope is different from a tightrope because. It is a rope that's strung between two poles. But it's loose. It's not strong it can be strong very high that's called the high line. But when they were practicing at a family party. Stream the rope somewhere between where the chair thing here would be somewhere between here and here so. Just tell me enough that you can't trust. Step on the rope. You have to come and leap. And immediately. Get your balance. But of course what happens when you're learning. Is that. Jump on the rope you trying to stop to get your valentine you and me.. Play fall off. And one of the things that pam told us is that and she tried it and she learned how to do it. Is that you jump and you immediately stop thinking about it and you move as much as you can in the rhythm. Of the rope that's going side to side and back and forth. In short you have to find your balance. While it's in constant. Motion. And it takes a long time to learn it but the trick. The secret. Is that you you. Can't stop moving. You absolutely have to have to take steps. Forward and backwards. In order to stay slack rope. The secret. It's crazy but. It's true the secret is. You find you are balance you find your center. When you get. Or when you let go of everything and you. Body organs. Swings. So basically. You get the swing of it. When you relax. And let your body. No. Have to keep moving. Will pam says. Everything else drops away when you jump up there. And even without thinking you begin to react and respond naturally. To the constant motion. And the lesson as she that she took away. Is that. Moving forward. Always moving forward. Helps you. Find your balance. Now. There may be some of you. Feeling a little off-balance here at first parish and need them because. This is a congregation. In transition. We could i suppose strings from. Black ropes around here in practice but. I think that's not what we're going to do. But occasionally seriously occasionally i hear your frustration. I miss the way it was. I see no point in this interim stuff if only we could fast-forward this process. If only we were already there and we had our new minister. In fact maybe you feel that way about something else in your life. The pregnancy you are the. Surgery or the chemotherapy. The uncertainty about if your job or your marriage. I'm guessing there's not a single person in this room who doesn't know what it feels like to be in that place. But here's the real the real thing. Real vitality exist in this so-called off-balance place. This is a time of possibility. A time when our aliveness invites us to grow. Both races individuals. And for the big body that's this congregation. Many of you know this most of you have lived it. When we grow and change uncomfortable as it sometimes seems we learn. We may feel afraid and some crazy way we also feel. Alive. Living our transitions conscience. Consciously. Is the best. Imaginable spiritual practice. 4life. Living our transition. Consciously. Is the best imaginable. Spiritual practice for life. In the coming months. As david mentioned. The transition team and i will be inviting this congregation. To explore. The opportunities that. This transition offers. You will walk together and we will walk with you to name the possibilities. To feel the vitality and the aliveness in this community. And as you move forward i predict you will find. Your balance you collectively will find your balance. Natural. And in the process. You will feel all over again. The heart. And center. Who you are as a congregation. Every moment of every day is temporary. If we keep living for a day when clarity comes when everything is exactly as we want it when it's all settled. That day will never come. So today i remind you to be grateful for the moments of balance when they come. But in the interim. I recommend that you learn to juggle while you're walking the slack rope. On a day when we mark this new year. With the names of those whom we lost. And those whose lives are just beginning. We also acknowledge that we. Here. Now. Are alive. Here in our lives full of grief and joy. Boredom and upheaval depression and anger pain and growth laughter and lightheartedness here. In life's full of beginnings and endings everyday. Every week. Every year. Here in the middle. We are alive. Happy new year everyone. May we hold sacred. Middle and ending. All of life is a sacred pilgrimage. What then shall we do. With r1. Wild and precious life.

uuneedham_org

050320_Lyceum16_Abbot.mp3

Welcome to the needham lyceum. A forum on public affairs. Spirituality culture and science. Conducted. At the first parish in needham massachusetts and its historic meeting house. The congregation of first parish. Open to an affirming the presence in our midst of gay lesbian bisexual and transgendered person. We in examining our own self-education realize that when we passed that statement we thought. About the more visible gay and lesbian people. That we knew in our communities. But actually. Ar. Examination of issues related to transgender people. We're quite limited. In the interest of continuing not only our own self education is a congregation sharing our learning with the wider community. The whole subject. Of transgender people in our world. And to help us do that we have invited someone from our own mixed. Tracy abbott. Has been. Teaching. Literature. From a perspective that is help that is shaped by issues of. Gender. Sexuality class race. At bentley college most recently she's just in the process of finishing her phd in english from the university of maryland. And this morning she's going to be sharing with us not only some of her own thoughts that she's worked on these issues. But also an award-winning film. That we have for which we could purchase the broadcast rights so that we can share it with the. Needham cable audience. I think without further ado i'm simply going to say that we are very proud on behalf of the welcoming congregation committee and first parish in which she serves. And the entire parish to be welcomed tracy abbott to this needham lyceum want to join me. Thank you and good morning. I think that many of us are familiar with some of the most famous transgender people like rupaul brandon tina renee richards. But unfortunately as individuals that we may have heard of. Have been obscured by other depictions of transgender in our culture that received much more attention. Whether it's martin lawrence robin williams in address or the hysterical antics of the springer show. Today most people believe. Often wrongly that they've had little contact with the transgender despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of americans. Category. This lack of awareness is due partly to the stigma attached to any notion of sexual difference. Those stereotypes of the transgenders command performers or bath logical free. And partly to the psychiatric emphasis upon invisibility for transsexuals his perceived evidence of their. Success. All of which led directly to the organization of the recent transgender. This morning i'd like to remove some of the stigma that surrounds the transgender and make you aware of how transgender people are not separate from us. They should stay or dealing with. Having their gender identity. And the prejudices of others are often the same issues we've all experienced. Growing up and living in our gendered society. Transgenders are relatively recent term and movement used to describe a variety of people who collectively challenge the notion. Of an nhl invariant binary gender system. As an umbrella term transgender refers to transvestites. Including drag queens and kings. Transsexuals intersexuals 112 hermaphrodites. And people who live as one gender even though they are genetically another. Although such individuals have existed throughout human history and are visible and recognized members of the community and many other cultures. The us has only recently seen the development of a self-identified collective identity that strives to maintain a presence within our culture and politics. What is melvindale depoali advances made by the feminist movement. It has experiences and political issues that are not only unacknowledged by these movements. Personalized perceived is antithetical to them. Begin our discussion we first must recognize the difference between the concept of gender and the concept of sex. Gender is a social and cultural identity. Wood itself refers to a person's biological anatomy. Including their genetic differentiation. Another words often assumed to be synonymous with sex. But in reality what we mean by gender what we mean by being a man or woman can vary greatly from culture to culture or era era. For the basic conditions of our human amad anatomy do not. When i refer to gender identity we made a person's internal sense of being male or female. For most of us are gender identity is concurrent with our sex so we may have never questioned whether we are man or woman. The transgender people reveal the connection between these two ideas. Since many perceive themselves internally is male or female even if their bodies give a different message. Transgender people also revealed the system which can structure understanding of gender identity. What will call today the gender system are schema which is how we are all taught and learned gender roles and values. In our society we learn how to behave in order to fit into one gender group when you think about it or anatomy doesn't really play that large of a roll. And how we are perceived in our everyday life is male or female. Nothing our parents provides out of pushed. Everything from how we do our hair what kind of clothes we wear how we speak how we gesture how we walk even though we stand. Gender. Just remember what we are told over going up about the proper way to act. Girl sit with their legs crossed. Boys shake hands and look people in the eye. Girls don't roughhouse or fight. Boys don't have long hair wear makeup. Girls don't yell. We speak confidently not softly. All of these rules that are how we learn a proper gender-role. Nagender o'lantern can be defined as that set of expectations about what behaviors are appropriate for people and not another. Coding interest dress. Hobbies manners and skills and occupation. These expectations or feminine. All these rules are communicated to us directly. I want were told or indirectly who we emulate and what behaviors rewarded than what is punished. Assume that certain behavior personality traits. When in reality they're just part of this gender system that we learn from birth. Girls are pasta. Boys are serta. Girls are better at art interpersonal communication. Are more affectionate boys are better at math. Armoire cresta physically. Mechanically inclined. This isn't to say that it's easy to get away from the gender system. Studies have shown that people treat infants differently from birth. Depending on their gender receiving for instance a crying infant is being afraid when it's a girl. Or being angry until it's a boy. Moreover some psychologists believe that humans are born with an innate need to classify and order the world around them. Vijender system that is something we learned before we are conscious of being taught. A set of values and behaviors that are teachers may not be consciously aware teaching. And it's a system that is used for making sense of our world. Therefore when someone doesn't conform to these gender standards he or she is perceived suspiciously. Or criticize. In general masculinity girls is more tolerated than feminine voice. Due to the fact that maleness and general in our culture is highly valued much more highway. Predominantly associated with achievement success. And independence. The femininity in general is associated with maternity passivity dependence. Early mesa. We have to keep in mind how rule-breakers are still dealt with. For example. O'brien was confident. Lean forward on the podium. 10 erupted romney she answered assertively. All qualities perceived as masculine yet rather than being interpreted as a sign of her potential success as leader. Her stance was off-putting to most. Criticizing the press is being too aggressive router even unbecoming. More disturbing example of town nonconforming gender behaviors treated by young people. According to a 1997 report the average high school student cares. Homophobic slurs at least 25 times per day. As you can imagine how can accusations of homosexuality often levied at those who do not conform to the standards of appearance and behavior that fit their gender. Lesbians being masculine. The masculinity and femininity in fact have nothing to do with sexual. You only need to see an old cary grant movie or visit rural vermont to find simonmed and masculine women who are heterosexual. The homophobia becomes another word to the weapon used to reinforce the rules of gender. At the most extreme is transphobic violence. According to one report results in the murder of a transgender individual monthly. Well the number went up to 24 in 2002 alone. Publix. Homicide cases include gwen araujo with seventeen-year-old from california who was beaten to death at a party after she was first violently interests reveal her biological sex. And araya johnson a seventeen-year-old from indiana who was shot to death by a man when he found a woman who's attracted to. Transgender. For most of us over there's a concert or settle discrimination that can be damaging as well. How would you judge for example email job applicant who spoke softly. Apologize often. Speaking and smile frequently. What about a female applicant award simple button-down shirt under dark pantsuit no makeup. We spoke rapidly make frequent eye contact. It should with her shoulders back in her legs apart. What if one of these people was a teacher at your child's school. Or doctor at the hospital. This way we can see the gender is not as clear-cut as straightforward as we might think. Associations between gender identity and sex. Gender identity and sexual orientation or gender identity and gender appearance. Which is also called gender attribution. Gender attribution is the interactive process. In which we make a particular presentation to the outside world of our gender identity and then the outside world of signs us a gender-based on q's. Like a parent's mannerisms and behavior. So we can see the many transgender people do not so much exist outside of normal gender. As much as expose the workings of the gender system of the rest of us take for granted. Orca seems to be acting the way that contradicts what we perceive as his or her gender. They're not following these rules of gender attribution. But understanding the distinctions between gender identity sex and gender attributional helpful to value the differences and everyone's kendricks.. For which the transgender may simply represent the most obvious or most extreme examples. Understanding transgender issues may also allow us to judge any deviation from what our culture perceives as normal. More generously. And we should also be careful recognized distinctions within this group called in transgender. It was transsexual. These are people who follow the medical guidelines are required to receive hormonal treatments and eventually sexual or gender reassignment surgery. To do so these individuals must admit to a psychiatric evaluation and receive a diagnosis of gender identity disorder. Then transexuals must live and work full-time as the gender they identify with before they can proceed to surgery. Itself and often misleading term because surgery actually encompasses a series of operations. Not all of which every transexual decides to do for personal or financial reasons. The surgeries include genital reconstruction the removal of internal and external sexual organs. And cosmetic surgery such as breast removal or augmentation they still feminization surgery or tricoche. Transsexuals are usually referred to as female-to-male or male-to-female transsexual. Despite well-publicized cases like christine jorgensen of renee richards rolfing council by medical professionals to pass after surgery to the degree of lying about their past. We should never assume that a transsexual identifies him or herself as a transsexual instead of just at the man or a woman. There should be assumed that someone is in the train this transition is. Planning to complete the process through the surgery. Due to the cost and potential dangers and loss of sensation for example many female-to-male transsexual do not always have genitals. Crossdressers are transvestites are usually people who dress and act in a manner associated with the opposite biological sex for rottacker social purposes but who did not assume another gender identity nor offer medical intervention like hormone treatments for surgery. Crossdressers particularly performers like drag queens and drag things are familiar to us. But we should remember that much of their performances based on our awareness of the dichotomy between their gender identity. And their parents. We should also not assume that if a transvestite my dress is another gender only part-time then their motivation is merely voluntary or insignificant. There should we assume that all crossdressers. Like drag kings or queens are homosexuals. Let email transvestites in fact or not. And orange that happily married. Intersexuals traditionally called hermaphrodites have only moment we identify themselves as such for number for reasons. First intersexuality is the result of a wide variety of chromosomal genetic disorders. How does klinefelter syndrome androgen insensitivity syndrome and turner syndrome and not all of these conditions manifest themselves in an obvious or out with wet. Those with androgen insensitivity syndrome for example have the genetic makeup of a male x y. But due to the inability to synthesize male hormones are born with feminized genitalia. And develop breast in a feminine body shape of purity and the sosua gender identity as a female. Secondly since most intersection dishes are most likely to produce ambiguous genitalia at birth. An estimated one in 1,500 infants. Doctors intervene directly with treatment of surgery. The true nature of which the child itself may never being formed. Or over this intervention is often can it to construct acceptable genitalia to conform to one gender regardless of the child's genetic or her monel structure. Children whose bodies were generating male hormone. But whose fallas length is judge too small for male identity are given to the three surgeries prior to age 2. Including a partial removal of the phallus. And then giving a lifetime of female hormones in order to race in this girls. Those who receive dental surgery as infants usually have more than one procedure. But the most common side effect being a partial or complete lack of sexual. Set sensation. The intersects moving is out trying to call attention to the commonality of gender dental surgery didn't encourage a more open approach intersexual conditions in wichita what do not receive surgery until they wish to unless they wish to do so after adolescence. We should have known the commonality of intersex conditions with an estimated over 190,000 americans with some variety of it. And question our society's desire to intervene medically on infants for conditions that pose pose no threat to the child's health. Physical well-being. Or ambiguity. Finally the transgender movement has opened up a new category of individuals whose gender identity is neither male. Your female. Or is it combination of both. Somebody's. Individuals identifies themselves identify themselves the third sex. Some bigender. And some genderqueer. Sometimes i do not always these people challenge the gender system with their appearance and mannerisms. For others it's simply a matter of personal or political identification. Genderqueer people might range from a young man who wears makeup and skirts or young woman with a crew cut who binds their breath. Journal two female transexual has had gender reassignment surgery and therefore can pass as a female but may not choose to do so or identify as either male or female. U.s. is actually beginning to acknowledge those who perceive themselves outside the system. Itamar organized manner. Darnell gender-blind dorms for example for transgender students at a number of colleges. Including wellesley. What language was the first swathmore it's gun sarah lawrence. Insurance requesting the same treatment all across the country from university of iowa. To listen clark in oregon to macalester college in minnesota. Other colleges have been providing gender-neutral bathroom. Like you miss emerson brown. On a political level does january illinois became the fifth state legislature to pass a law prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity. Which did not include. Such changes are a positive sign that our culture has begun to accept. In our culture is from where we live. Where we can work and where we can even find a public restroom or still too often restricted of these notions of male and female which many of us have found restrictive at some point in our lives. Do it all these complex idea that i'm feeling you now we're going to look at the case of one transgender individual. Her name is cade his name is kade farlow collins. He was born as a girl in arizona and the video is a story of his transition. Afterwards we'll have an open discussion and i hope his part of this discussion we can talk about the ways in which we as a community can be more understanding and welcome me to transgender. First realize kate was different. Espana. It mine said that dress like a boy and a boy. It just makes you wonder. What's happening corrected boys clothes from the time she was very young i remember the last time she wore a dress was kindergarten i had bought little green flannel dresses for kate and her sister and they were christmas eve and k cry and cried and said address and i promised her i want to take pictures we're going to a party where. In tucson calling mary buzz farlow. I might have two children. First came out yet. And then. Kate. After 17 years they divorced. They handle child custody by how switching. The kids remained in the house they grew up in and calling and bars alternated living with them. This arrangement was written about in the arizona daily star. Elliot. The oldest daughter graduated from tucson high school in 2000 and now attends college at arizona state university but this story focuses on the younger kate farlow beginning during kate's freshman year of high school in october of 1999. I was born february 20th 1985 so i'm 14 years old. As morning tucson arizona knife wound care on my lap i just started taking classes at xs tucson night in the producer of a show with my friend gentry. Tucson once a month. Not tolerate any crap if you call we will know your number. Brackets in g-man. Yarn twists in g-man. Embarrassing embarrassing your family's what's going on just get off the air. Yes i was wondering if you have been school r&b. Okay i'm kissing gentry riverview movies right now but. Is it pretty good. Hey aren't you know professional got there and i mean that you know i'm a communications major university in and i think i'm pretty crappy stuff let me tell you. And i'm. Okay. Yes i seen it. Okay. I don't like to watch games that's it. 9. I always loved that photograph showing cajun his soccer stride you always had a rhythm in a pace that just didn't look like the other kids on the girls team he always ran like a boy he was very aggressive. And from the very beginning we had to put up with inferences people making comments both kids and parents you know you should be on a boys team. That sort of thing and it got to the point where we just wouldn't go to a tournament especially for the town tournament without a copy of the birth certificate in case there was some controversy. I'm an ftm which is means female-to-male. It means i was born. Email but i feel. Mail. I've always just felt like a guy like i should be a guy. I don't know i just thought i was a lesbian because i was female and like. Women until recently i heard about the term. A transgendered which made more sense it just. But exactly how i was feeling. Transgender to me just means someone who. Maybe doesn't identify with the body with the sex they were given at birth. When i think of myself i think of myself as just. Like an average kid basically i mean i don't think i'm. Much different than other people everyone has their problems and things like that. This is my bulletin board with pictures of. All my friends and. I don't know. Places i've been to. I was wrong with my trophies. From soccer girls soccer trophy then. Playing since i was in first grade shrine. I've been collecting simpsons memorabilia for. About couple years now i just love the simpsons they're hilarious i don't know i can really relate to their jokes and things like that. They've been a big inspiration. Comedy. Now that i'm 14 i'm interested in having a girlfriend but it's hard. To find someone who will accept you because. Straight girls want a guy and then lesbians want someone who will act like so. I'm sort of in-between and it's kind of hard to find someone. Who will accept me. I think we totally accepted pretty early on that we we basically had a a lesbian on her hands and and this would begin to explore the transgender issue that was a little tougher for me i think my initial reaction was hard enough just being a lesbian so much discrimination in the world and picked on their whole lives just for their lifestyle and i understood that it wasn't a choice. I did feel it was a much harder road. I think it's hard to be me because. People are just so like misinformed. On what being transgendered is and it's. I mean. My friends laugh at me sometimes when i ask them to. Call try to call me he. I mean when you walk into a bathroom. The women start screaming leaving there's a boy in the bathroom but you can't use the men's bathroom. I don't know people just like don't understand at this point. Things really came to a head in the eighth grade when kayden huberty when the first. happened the feces really hit the fan in caitlin's. Was virtually suicidal on for me that just really cemented and confirmed. This is not this is not a gay woman this is more than a game and it was actually a man. Rekha guy in a woman's body and experiencing things that way and and feeling very betrayed. By his own body. When she realized that. Kate wasn't a lesbian wasn't gay. That she was transgendered we realized that we knew nothing about transgender people. Nothing at all. We started talking to friends and eventually were referred to a group here in tucson. An organization called wingspan. And they had several. Support groups that. Kate could access and we could also our one was a youth group. On saturday afternoons and. Another was a group called desert boys which is a. Female-to-male support group consists mostly of people going through what they call it the transition. Either beginning t which is testosterone injections or having. Surgeries. The internet has been invaluable. Communicated with. Several parents. Even out of the country who have transgender children. And it has been the consensus that the sooner you start the transition the sooner the child the person starts the transition the batter. I think that makes sense. If you have. A medical problem the sooner you correct it. The battery you are rather than let it. Create other problems. First report i go to a youth group usually every saturday. And i go to. Ftm meaning. Which is like once a month and i'm the youngest person in each of those groups but. I don't know. The people are really cool. The support group has been wonderful in that people have been so willing to share information. They've shown us their chest surgeries talked about the different doctors the different. Techniques. And. It's just been wonderful. To have people who are really willing to help you and and and i think yet. Makes you want to help other people also. Through this i love being being myself because. I'm like surrounded by. Open-minded people who will accept. Me and everything i do. And i feel like i was born at a time where i have the chance to make a difference in the way. People under like except other people. Right now i'm getting lupron shot switch on. Take me back before puberty. Is when puberty hit i got really depressed but now i'm feeling much better. Not too bad. Okay. You're right. So what you going to be for halloween this year. Kincaid was transgender penis. Because. I'd already established myself sort of and then little sisters are little brothers can bears you already but having a little sister camille actually looks like a boy. Was very difficult i was really upset i wondering how everybody was going to react to her and i was going to have to get in any fights standing up for her and it was hard to explain to people who she was. And at first i was. Very mad that she was going to come to my school at all because. It was mine and i already had my friends are thing i didn't want to have to stick up for her. I put my life sort of like online. And having a problem when high schools already hard enough. And then the whole idea of. Having to explain to people who she was very difficult so i just developed the concept where if people would ask me who doubt who i was talking to urologist. That's mine as in like that was my little brother sister and they would just take it as whatever they wanted as either my little brother my little sisters fighting tattoo. Explain it. Have to choose which one i was going to pack. Eventually i will change my name from kate. To i was thinking cade because very similar but. I know it's all up in the air right now but i'm definitely going to change my name. It gets. Really annoying with all that pronouns. She her. Especially in spanish when every word you say. The first what's xur eventually i want to start. To get a testosterone shot. And then after that has surgery and eventually perhaps. I'm not sure yet. But it's always very expensive. So i'm saving. I like to think about the future what i'm going to be like. After i get i feel like my life hasn't really begun. And every saint patrick's day since i was little kid we've always. Going to the parade or marched in it. And it's just a day to be proud. I think my biggest fears were that as cade went through his sophomore year in high school and actually began transitioning began the treatments and. Name change and all that in the same school that they were going to be. Kids bigoted people are kids that essentially would make his life miserable. And our works and none of that really occur. Everybody seem to be really supportive they seem to sense his genuineness. But this was not funny his friends have been great. The teachers and everybody have been great. And i think 8 is. Actually generally pleased insulting and very very happy. I think was nice when kate told me that he was going to be making a transition and at the time you know i didn't really think that. like i didn't really know what transgendered was or what assets text james i know i didn't i was guess i was thinking like what the majority of people think and but tastes like you know pretty much taught me what it was all about but it was pretty much all about we read books together and i've just learned more about it and we talked we learned about you know people like brandon teena the boy in wyoming or no it was nebraska somebody and we just started and i just started to be way more open-minded to that. When i first learned about kids sexuality it was. Trust me i think yeah it was special near me. Hammond. Our friend mitch we were all skating at the u of a. And. He told us in. I mean i was i was fine with it it was no big thing i have gay friends i have. Friends that aren't normal. But i mean. It's just a friend is a friend. I. As long as you're nice to me that. Doesn't matter here in tucson is really good i mean. Cade. I think. That. This is a great place for k2b because people so accepting here. Tucson high is a really big school and there's a lot of different kinds of people. Everyone gets along for the most part i would say there's very little racism. At tucson high which i think is good. Everyone's everyone's pretty accepting. Is. A gay-straight alliance. At the school which plays a big part. In. Activities of the students everybody knows about it and everyone. Is really. Positive words. What i do now that i'm kate's friend friends with cade is when. Someone doesn't understand pain situation. I'm there to help them make it to explain it cuz they're not as lucky as i am to have a friend who's going through this and to understand the situation. And it's my duty. Pretty much as his friend to explain it. The people i knew before i started. Transitioning. Hadn't really pause it is. And. I did seems like it's brought me closer to my true friends. I meant ana we were in the same group of friends pretty much. And. We're at a party one time and we started talking. And we just pretty much hit it off. And we have the same type of sense of humor i guess 12 months later that somebody told me that he was actually girl. And we've been going out sort of since like october. I think he'd started like me first and. I don't know he like you told me and that i just. It was. It wasn't uncomfortable for me at all i just. I think i like him too and i hadn't really thought about it before. It developed like any other romantic relationship would i think. And it was just really comfortable for both of us. I didn't really think about the fact that he's transgender that much youtube. He's just. I really need. If somebody wanted wanted to have in my life and. It don't matter to me. I've heard people saying like. That's the guy i know that's a girl and. I just wish that they would know him instead of. You know talking about him. I'm 16 now. And since october 99 i've started testosterone. I get a shot every week. Or so by my mom. And. I've noticed voice change muscle gain. A little bit of facial hair. But i'm not too far along yet so i haven't noticed all the major changes. It was hard for me to think if it's been awhile cuz i thought you was. Then when i start thinking that. And get depressed. Thank. But how funny that is. Like that with no that she wants to be a boy. If that's what you wanted why then she'll be happy. God bless. It's been really great i feel a lot happier now. I'm more confident if i feel like it's easier for me to make friends now. You know and i used to be really shy and self-conscious but i'm not anymore. It's been really positive. But don't forget no matter what i'd appreciate it you just call me. Let me just answer one question which i think might come up for you. Intersects at lessons. Are given surgery. I'm often because sometimes their conditions may begin to develop like the opposite sex. And then they can choose if they would like surgery in order to continue that transition or if they want to stay the same gender identity. Transgender teens do not receive surgery until they are 18. Under the standards of care that are established this for psychiatric guidelines for all transsexuals transition. I'm so the roof wrong that cake out initially was to stop his menses. And that he became testosterone butt. He later opted for chest surgery. In which remove but at this time he's not. I decided to jennifer surgery he's found 19 years. Floors now yours if you have any questions. I want to things one. Medical program. People have corporate medical insurance whatever i do these things just. Totally ignore. Assisting these folks. $50,000 for a physical pigeon. The most of the time insurance does not cover this despite having a psychiatric diagnosis day. Okay now the other thing of doctors birth arbitrarily making decisions physiological decisions on behalf of well this kid is largely female or male so we'll just do a few. Moved here in. Heather. You don't know 1940s i was left-handed and everybody said no you should be right-handed so they work very carefully to. Two i'll get myself and all of its other bad people will left-handed become right-handed and then we had to switch back. He's that sort of stuff still happening where these arbitrary decisions are made. Because. What are the things that is the parents are under intense pressure first few days of a child's birth. And they're giving all of this information and basically told us they do not need a mandate a gender identity that is concerned with the biology than they're going to ruin their child's life excetera they're not really given options. One thing that has changed is the type of surgery. I'm initially when. I'm for that it but i gave its a child ambiguous genitalia is at the palace is considered too large to be female but the two small that email the clitoris was removed and now it's considered a partial but they're still. Often almost a partial or complete lack of sensation. One of the most difficult things in reading about the surgeries done to children is. How's it going out there two or three surgeries as a child and. They're very traumatic surgeries to go through because it's genital reconstruction and then in the cases like that it could be the construction of a vagina. Which is an ongoing process. And just to imagine i'm putting it in with child through that or having to continue without as you can imagine the psychiatric. Psychological scars not just a sexually but also a needle medical attention. Last a lifetime so the intersects moving is really developed by that it was started by a woman named cheryl chase who learned as an adult's that she. How did intersex condition and that her clitoris have been removed. And she. A recourse for that. And so she's the one who started the intersects of society of north america to try to educate people and also is very interesting cuz it developed during the nineties at a time when. There was a lot of publications publicity about of african genital mutilation surgery but there was very little information about jennifer surgery occurring in the united states all the time. Until one positive thing in the medical out the medical front i should not give advice to you with medical is pediatric endocrinologist like the ones who treated cade. Are now much more open to trading to transgender teens and i'm sure some of you read about the methuen. Child. Who's 9 years old who is now identifying as male and is being treated. Sumter pediatric endocrinology. So that is very helpful in that so. Any other questions. Only in some states can a birth certificate be changed. Interesting lee enough there's some states where the birth certificate can never be changed regardless of. I've how much surgery you have usually two process is one of the reasons why transsexuals have to go through standards of care now just to receive surgery but to change their birth certificates you have to go before a judge and have testimony of your doctor's excetera. Some steak that doesn't matter like handis and texas. And that's led to some very ironic legal situations frances texas. Had a case of a transsexual female-to-male wanting to marry. No sorry. Male-to-female wanting to marry woman. So in our eyes i would be to women and it would be gay marriage because text it's not recognized. Their transition to female it was still a male and a female they were left on harry so it's an ironic situation but most the time ironically they aren't. Certificates very very difficult it's not dangerous. In a situation where you have an idea that says you're a different gender. There are. Several ways in which this discussion will go on. On the. Our pulpit yes. Will be mister barbri. A transgender. Seminarian. And aspirin to the unitarian universalist ministry. And we hope that they'll be a real discussion with barb on that day that helps us in our welcoming congregation working our public education were. You mentioned the issue of same-sex marriage which of course has been. And continued. A vital one here in the commonwealth of massachusetts. On sunday. The 3rd of april. Here at the needham lyceum our guests will be my good friend hilary goodrich. Who with her partner julia. Was the lead plaintiff. In the. Case that went to the supreme judicial court. And open the way. 4 st. Sex marriage massachusetts. We will continue. To have discussions about many of these vital issues and human rights they're not. Apart from our own community. Here in needham we have people who are transgender and parents were raising. Children with gender identity issues. And i've been involved in counseling and working with such people almost since the day i arrived here in the town. Here at the first parish surrounding us this morning in the meeting house. Is a display of photographs of the diversity of families. Yan our own community. The faces of needham. A beautiful photographic exhibit. Arranged by the needham civil rights committee. And. Apart of its march no place for hate month. I hope that people will enjoy. Taking a look. At the wonderful diversity. The faces of our own community. And once again tracy thank you for a most stimulating discussion of transgender issues. Let's thank her one more time.

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031130_John_Buehrens--Taxes_and_Enduring_Values.mp3

Good morning on this thanksgiving holiday weekend. And this is another in our ongoing open public forums on. Drink the slap. Address directly except on the occasionally head truck colin. From commonwealth. Calm and.. What. Is sometimes referred to as the death tax get her to texas. It seems to me that. Thanksgiving weekend. Might be a good occasion for a minister to take. That up. What on earth you might say that the minister has to say about taxes. Well i go back often to stories that i'm fond of telling about my own experience in divinity school. We're one of my classmates. Taxation. I was sitting outside my advisors. At harvard. A time when i could speak with professor who study card. Because i was planning on taking you. Three out of my four courses. In areas that were. The basic course. You cannot attend. I'm also going to be trying to get our professor to allow me to take several courses. Start prickly here at the. Because i'm not going to become a minute. I'm going to exit from the divinity school. Master theological studies. And go back to my home in michigan. Are you going to take things like economic. Which is what interests me. But i am. On machiavelli. I remembered this little encounter. About 1981. When my one-time divinity school. And later congressman. As the budget director. Unguarded moment. Journalist wiggins rider of the atlantic magazine. The politics behind. I'll be early 1980s. Explain vet. In what even the vice president. Economic. The notion that large cuts federal tax rate at the upper levels would stimulate the economy. Realize that there were a great many political. That were eager to see. Taxation. Rollback. Here we are. More than 20 years later. And many of us i think. That basic recognition among the american people. Commonwealth. Because we have been the product. Enormous amount of investment. I grew up. Perhaps some of you did. During a. when. Text paula. To make it easier. For people who are raising the next generation. My father came back from world war ii. And receive the gi bill. He drove to work on highways that were built with federal. Text dollar. And i went to public school. That were raised in almost every city and town in america in the 1950s. Provide the next generation with the best. Public education. Moreover my parents paid relatively model. Federal income taxes. Translate. The deduction that they received for each of their three children. And to today's dollars. It would be the equivalent. About seven or eight thousand dollars per child. The entire structure. The federal tax system. Was design. During the 1950s. Fort defense. And for investment in the future. On those who has the highest income. Although it would seem shocking to us now. During dwight eisenhower's administration. The top of the federal tax. 92%. Taxation. Today of course in the united states. About taxation. Has taken on an entirely different song. Many politicians. Text release. As though it were in depression. Visited upon. Rather than an investment. Common future. Probably. The cartoon. Summarize the latest piece of federal legislation. 400 billion dollar medicare drug prescription plan. Half the congress this week. I might add is a moment of disclosure here. That's my daughter erica. Copy services the legislative aide to senator edwards of north carolina. I wrote a speech for the senator. Which he delivered on the floor of the senate last sunday morning. Talking explicit. About how. Plan. Representing. A shifting of the tax burden. From. April cabrera. And from the present. To the future. The cartoon morning an elderly woman. With visiting her doctor. With her little grandson. Nextdoor. The doctor is writing out of prescription. You can pick up your prescription. At the desk. We can just legislated. In addition to the medicare program that many of us feel is long overdue. But informed. That places the entire burden. On the future. Call on borrowed money. What is it. Value in our society. That has made us so adverse. Taxation. In our commonwealth. As an investment. I've been pondering this for. Sometime. Because temperature. Of our society. Does it have to do with my friends. Humanity. At christ episcopal church last sunday afternoon. Does it have to do. With a basic decline ingratitude. Do we forget. We were invested in. And therefore might need. Payback something. In order to make a sound investment. I think that maybe part of it. There's another thing i'm certain. Mri also. Possible partner puzzle. Construct. At the way in which our political leaders rather than. Perhaps they need to pay for. Other services. But they trick. Alternative financing. Borrowing against the future. Or by finding such alternative music. Public finance. As public lottery. And revenues. From legalized gambling. When i consider the question. Their own. Current economic interest. When it comes. Minimal taxation in minimal services. Even when those services could be of tremendous help.. I think that there may be something from this popularization. Lotteries in gambling. The message. Perhaps something like this. I may not be wealthy now. And i just know what happened. Maybe my mother. Like a couple in illinois. And then i would not want to have to pay heavy taxes. Contemplating to take place in the state of alabama. Where the governor. A conservative republican. Who actually take. Suggested to his own. Legislature and people. Bet the. State of alabama. The tax burden. Increase paxil. At least to have minimally decent public school. A deal with a prison system. Which was by this fall accommodating twice as many people. Design for. He simply quoted jesus to the effect that from those to whom much has been given. More is expected. And told the story. Abusive presented with. Taxes to caesar. You'll recall that story i trust. And jesus asked. Images on the coin. And when told it was caesar. The things that belong to caesar. But given to god the things that belong to god. My dad. Learned. Was an attempt. And pervasive. Gratitude. For what's owed. To the mysteries the source of life behind all things. Everything. Everything. Where at. We're at the petty. For the multiplicity of. And we are at. That. Where our children will not be ashamed. Or tempted to curse our name for having. Wickenburg az. Better be on there.. Our society today. Anthony. Not worried. About the burden that we lay on future generations. Comprehensive community housing plan. I've been contemplating. Call efforts to relieve the tax burden. That came out of the 1980s. Have some certain problem that we now face. Proposition two-and-a-half clearly. Taxation. On. But you and i home. Impound like around. Good. Especially for major capital investments. This fall's vote on the override for a new public high school. Was just the tip of the iceberg. Notice that we will be doing much of the financing. Also on the future. It will have to be borrowed. When i say it's only the tip of the iceberg that's a good deal of other infrastructure. Husband. Neglected. Planning about it put off. Anytime. Rather arbitrarily limit their ability. I'm out about major public. That sort of thing. Is going to go on. And of course the fall we've all watched. Perhaps with them. Play turn of affairs in the state of california. Where. Grassroots. Referendum. Drive. Limiting the power of the states attacks. While mandating. Expenditures in many basic areas. Governmental wife. From education. Have left the state. Where. Looking for someone. Accountable. Remove the governor from office. And we now have the interesting question. Weather hollywood actor. Will do better. That they ought to. Adopt. Founder. Plan. Republic. Given my recollection. Hollywood actor. Occupied the white house in the 1980s. In many respects. Geology. Low taxation. I'm not convinced. I found this way. For the citizenry to begin. About life's other inevitability. For that is another thing that a minister has to say i'm afraid. Prisoner of mine once asked me what's the difference between a sermon and alexa. If you're not. And i remember vividly replying well. I think a sermon. Another. Remind. Lecture about taxation. How i want to bring in some of the similar. This is merely the talk. At the basis of dialogue with all of you. As we reflect on the enduring human values that lie behind our attitude. Toward what if we conduct our public life properly should be. Another inevitability. Perhaps not so much a burden. As a privilege. Connected. Would taking part. It would be a better sermon for the 15th of april i know. When all of us sit there. Writing out our tax returns. And grumbling and mumbling. And whipping. That the burden could be shifted to someone else. But indeed. There is no one. Take care the common good. And to invest in the common future. I do worry. What has become an increasingly globalized economy. Is now. Creating an atmosphere. Economic thinking. Suggest to almost every public official. That in order to compete. With some other. Neighborhood. Publix. And public taxation should be kept to an absolute minimum. All around the world. Which is the pressure growing. It's growing in europe. Which is traditionally had some of the highest public benefits. Forest. More vulnerable citizens. Free. Preschool in france for example. Comprehensive. Healthcare. For all citizens. In almost every western european country. If you visit europe you'll recall. On almost every purchase you make. You paid a v8. A rather substantial. Not your sales tax the so-called value-added tax. A consumption tax in effect. That place has a good deal of the tax burden. On those. Who consume. Especially. Morlock free. And unnecessary items. That's awesome. We ought to consider moving. Here in america. Certainly we'd. When the taxation. Limited. Now a very heavy burden. On the incomes of ordinary americans. Stock many americans to learn for example. That corporate income tax last year provided 6% of several revenue. While you and i threw our income taxes. Provided 54%. Federal revenue. Maybe taxation. Real estate either. We've discussed in the series some of the economic problems associated. With trying to provide. Affordable housing. There's clearly song. Tied up. Pacsun. Real estate so heavily for local government benefits and states all over the country. Our findings. Just about maximized tolerance of the people. For kel-tec revenue. Competition. With adjacent states. But. Wonderful steps is the one recently taken here in massachusetts. To open up sunday liquor sales. Outlet r. I'll liquor stores in marcus near the state borders. I'll find that they are losing business to rhode island or connecticut her. Architect lake new hampshire. Competition is very clearly a part of the whole picture. Of taxation. But i think very seriously. About the question of investment. Which is the other side. Are we going to continue to invest wisely and well. In a well-educated and productive future workforce. Arwen children. More substantially at the state level. Nothing has risen faster in cost than tuition. For low-income. Attempting. Public colleges and university. Over the thanksgiving dinner table i was. Speaking with my younger brother eric executive dean for. Administration at harvard medical school. He was telling me that the discussion among the officials in higher education the fall had turned very heavily. 2. Which would penalize any college or university. It causes its tuition to rise. At more than double the rate of inflation. It was by cutting the federal. In fact. Something that we have created. Through a rather short-sighted. Stop.. Priorities about taxation. Certainly it seems to me. That our future still depends tremendously. On investing. And both things that will help to make our commonwealth. Viper. Productive. And a good place to live. Whether you are healthy. Orgill. Whether you are productive. Oregon need of assistance. The tendency in america today. If you want to reduce. Dependency. At the cato institute. So-called welfare reform. Call george gilder on poverty. The next step. Well it's the dependency on such public programs is. Medicare. Medicaid. And social security. I'm sure my 83 year-old mother. With multiple sclerosis. We'll be glad to hear. That there are such progressive thinkers eager to see her taking care of herself. I wonder where the gratitude is. And her most productive years she raise children. Who keeps going on. I wonder whether we aren't entitle whether we aren't. Ungrateful. When we. Alright. Even at public. Impose. Guam. Taxation. I think it was part of the problem is italy. Our sense of community is faxing are on top of this and good for us. Buying insult always makes things cheaper at the co-op. Alcohol society for healthcare. For education. And i'm reminded of a danish friend who came. The united states in the early 1980s all excited because. Denmark. Because all of the things that they got free by the. Taxes if they had paid previously. They now had to pay user fees for. And it was much more expensive. Good point. Is that it. To bring down the prices. One of the provision. Medicare bill. Felt that the government may not. From from the drug companies and negotiate down. The prices of drugs. It can only be done. Eventually. Ensure. In order to enter the competition. But whether that will be enough to actually bring off the. Intrude. Private competition with medicare. And of course there's a good deal of. Speculation. Private eyes. The medicare system. Just as there's a good deal of speculation that. The building up a very large federal deficit. Medicare and social security. Unfunded obligations. Perhaps. Is it to make it impossible in the future. 2000 medicare system. Other forms of. Support. Which strike me if i say. With the most enduring value. I finally started to touch appointment. Bethel. 20 or 30 years ago. I don't think you have to ask questions there's some sort of. Drive. Conservatives have been good enough to tell us explicit. Cutting taxes. Power. Our government. And they've been able to justify this by stirring up. Anti-tax fervor. Through decades. Public relations and advertising aimed at that very purpose. Two decades of public relations and advertising aimed at whipping up the feelings. The people are being cheated. Which is very easy to whip up because these same forces have been doing their level best to cheat everybody they could. To persuade people that they are being cheated. Bye. The beneficiary. Public programs. Rather than. The wretch who bought the government. Rather than by the corporations have shifted the entire burden of running the government onto the. Backs of. Those least able to pay as you've mentioned. And. At the same time have done everything they could to. Two people further down. And. They've managed to sell the public on the idea that the benefits that government provides are for those bad people. And that you can go it alone and should. It's not surprising that people. Bo treated. It's not surprising that they're vulnerable to this type of propaganda. But. You can't deal with this issue realistically without. Taking notes. But there is a large group of people who are out to explicitly destroy our government by. Preventing it from spending any money at all. And who are out to polarize artists id. Bye. Focusing the wrath of the public on. The poor to keep it deflected. From they themselves who are its proper object. I don't think that one needs to be. Focus only on the conservative attacks on government time remembering people. Late senator from wisconsin mine. Family. Most ridiculous. Government expenditure in whether it was you know the study of. The rate of icebergs melting in alaska or something or other there usually be actually fairly interesting scientific reason behind. It was as what the heck are we doing here. Democratic politics. Party. In representational amount of. What can be labeled as pork barrel. Project indeed. Latest round of them. Congressional action the omnibus appropriations bill 1. Not that i saw indicated that there were a good 2 billion dollars. Kids projects in there. That were for this particular local cause that would get. Representative. A certain amount of that. I think is. So predictable. One wonders whether. Concerned about laying behind. A distaste for for government. I'm often struck by how much of it is really. Boondoggle. Search war for ordinary local. Empress weather at unlv. Utica new york. Harmless but nothing perhaps not essential. Expenditure in our government. Actually fall under what many people have begun to analyze it. Even on the international playing field. People are raising serious questions about such things as the very heavy subsidies. That go into things like aldean working efficient aspects of american agriculture. Read this week a v long article about sugar growing in central florida. I wish healthy some devastating environmental effects. For political reasons. And who is in latin america. With protests. We subsidize inefficient aspects of our our own agriculture on public funds. It's obviously becomes more difficult. Or sugar growing in guatemala or some other of place in latin america to have a fair chance of injury. Aqua world market. One of the things that we don't get much scrutiny. It seems to me. Areas of public expenditure. That represent. Strong. Political. Stop pinterest. And. Half does the heaviest. Lobbying. Public relations. A pressure behind them. But i think that that the general. That are tax funds are being used wisely and efficiently. Has certainly grown grown to such an enormous proportion. I wonder whether it isn't time for us to stop and quit pointing fingers. And to safeway to me. Ultimately. A reflection. The will of the american people. Or be well-educated. About. All these matters are going on why i'm so convinced that we need to have work. I hadn't. We all went to politician to pandora and i think we all have. And. I think that's a view towards. And you didn't use that word but perhaps short-termism is it is one way to always win. The investment you wait for your return to better off you are with a couple of. And therefore you know what i really have to do and accordingly. Is very tough thing to to change attention. The current payment aspect of the equation. And i'm questioning the given the experience because america that's a pretty tough thing to change and to get people to. One understands that maybe a driver and two voice that. And why would i change it to that in our future. Is incredible pizza past. Are we learning in the larger economic sphere. Help the drive-in. Beginning to worry about. What. Are growing public indebtedness is going to do to overall economic condition. Chances that this will. And that of course has a general dampening effect on the. Robustness about the economy. Certainly the concord coalition. Founded by the late senator paul tsongas and and senator warren redmond. New hampshire. I have been quite consistent better watch out for that kind of. Numbers that are now starting to open. That kind of public indebtedness can have a real dampening effect. Fascinating and depressing example of the alabama recent referendum that you mentioned. Striking majority that stated so poor but they're probably not even thinking about investments. Was using this very sophisticated.. Rational approach. And i think the factor there is. Fairly good examples of corruption and misuse of money. Exploited by the. Hydrolysis rocks in the supreme court. After the fact mean. More time. More clever. Retro sexy nirvana you know good grassroots. And a lot of support build up by the. I don't know how to exactly apply that to alabama but i just think it's so shocking that people voted against their own self-interest. Next a situation. There may be something to be said for the. Local referenda on this matter one of the things that has worked it seems to me as if people have been told very clearly where the money is going to go. Dataforce becomes very difficult. Call when you're discussing general tax policy for a state. 4. 4. The federal government. You can do it a lot more clearly. At the local level you can quantify just going to be approximately this much extra on your. Property tax bill and this is the project for which. It's going to be devoted chart and let them know. All of that sort of thing don't get that kind of specificity. In general discussions about about state and federal. Tax policy for the most part. That's why i think. The politician. They've often been. A quite popular because the proceeds of the lottery get. On something quite popular. Some of the southern states for example in georgia and i think. South carolina as well. I'll proceed to the state lottery car focus. On public higher education. On. Public policies that will allow every graduate of a public high school. A guaranteed place in the university. At. Minimal cost. Atmosphere. Around particular. For an awful lot of comprehensive thinking. And therefore will always end up with. The most likely holes by the way are going to be. Outdoor side effects. Who are most vulnerable. Who's still unfortunately. When they do vote vote against their economic interests are economically. Not at all. Don't feel that they have. Where are tax dollars are going. Because we have gone beyond mere consumer. Of governmental. Call zach c activities. Enterprise. As people become part of the religious committed they go through.. Come to the point where i'm going. Support of the religious community. And i want to pass it on in good order will come after me. Going on. Yes. I'd like to know your opinion. When do conservatives current washington. In mine. What's the clean-out security because it was a surplus. Take your taxes back to the people and the people thought it was great. Did they talk about they don't have money. Because they make sure they cleaned out that kitty. At the apartments behind that they planned it and i believe it was playing. We don't have the money. I'm defense which ivory first but not the kind of money 400. Itickets. I'm real. My point is it was a plan. All alone suspended for me so the people that could say to the people we don't have. Oh okay. Very strong ideological. Notions tabs. Economic. I devoutly committed. Cutting government. Raise the general. Level of the economy as a whole global competition. Or competition of one state against another for where is the business going to locate itself. There are some things out there. General education. I have you invested. Make this a good place. How to do business. But i agree with you peter i think that's. The general plan 24 on dividends. Economics. I suspect has had a positive effect this year on on the stock market. To what degree that's hard to tell. But if his kind of. Some positive emotion awkward in the stock market. Are stock owner directly or indirectly. Is this an enormous part of the american public. As opposed to say manufacturing or ordinary employment. Not only what are you going to do. The american economy as a whole. Is one of the things that i worry about because i because i believe it's making us. Somewhat more vulnerable. This is sam the story you know of other substantial empire in the past. Butthead. General economic health. Their primary. Was the export of capital. Defense expenditure. Inordinately. This is the general public. We are now taking on. Of our national resources. The protection. Al-bar capital investment. Overseas. But still very much tied. The patterns of economics. I empire. That have been. In the past. With. Of our own country. Where. Taking care of. And healthcare. Might have a higher priority. I think there's another dimension for the moral spiritual dimension. Motivate. Near me. The motivations and. Ideas of. Middle management people in government. A major source of cynicism information already has to do with lack confidence. That's one of the first things you hear about. Undermine. The weather. And two large extent. Middle managers in the private economy. Are people in government to. What can we do today. Other other. Observed. Is also tied up with one of my friends. And he said to me how many people do you think work in there. I don't know what to say. He was extremely cynical. Recently read an article. That shows that the number of. Employees federal department. With no larger than the number of family farmers. Left in america. They were primarily serving. Popeyes number. Your proposal employees of the department of family farmer. A cartoon of a water cooler. What's wrong. That's an extreme example but consider the fact. We have. We're a great many. Senators recently voted. 4. An energy bill. That was probably not in the best interests of their farmstays. Except for. Very cleverly created ethanol. Program. Which is the convert corn surplus corn. A gasoline additive. Politico. I think. Directly influence. The development of government bureaucracies and their perpetuation. But here in the commonwealth. I-41. Have rather welcome. Our new governor. On. Bombastic. Long-term patron. Within. Parts of our state government. Representative government. On whether things are being done. Well and efficiently. For the most part. There are always going to be. Jobs that are created through government. That are less necessary than they used to be. It should be. 41. Crummy. The subsidies. Domestic agriculture in the united states. Department. Some. Economic and political forces. Why behind that. Forms of corporate welfare. And patronage. Corporate style. That's rather than stay old. Neighborhood politics we still got some of that here in massachusetts. Unquestionably. More patronage has corporate. That. The most inefficient part of. We have more kids graduating college now than we've ever had and i'm taking back the candy everyone the best of the brightest in the peace corps and used will take over and trade. Early twenties today. About to be your recent college grad for kids feel about government service and their attitude towards our government what it is or is not doing for the right i don't read about this right now what's the temperature of that. Network specifically created to help of prepare people. Public service. Recently princeton. What is woodrow wilson school. I went through quite out a tahoe with a major donor. Who wanted her. Donations. Because no one from the pool. In recent years and actually gone into government service. Salaries provided. And the like were so much higher. Then people who were trained in international affairs. Could get from government service. That's the very thing. Here at the kennedy similar things are administrator to such a degree that now in many of these schools that are. Public service. Call over a. of time. Great.

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20130113_klausau_katie_lee_sermon.mp3

I am a person who collects stories. And experiences many of you who come frequently have probably already guessed that. I'm like the veteran traveler in today's opening words accept my suitcases aren't always exactly empty. I believe you do have to be dressed for the occasion to be a successful story listener or storyteller but. That's a story for another time. I had a sabbatical leave in 2005. 6 glorious months away from parish ministry. During which i was encouraged to rest. And renew my spiritual and physical energy. So that i might return refreshed. And ready to resume my ministerial duties with new vigor. And vision. So as we prepared the congregation and i for me to leave for that. of time people would say so what are you going to do on your sabbatical. And my response was always the same. I'm not going to do anything. I'm just going to be. But they would say with a wrinkled brow aren't you going to write a book go back to school or something. Nope. I'm just going to be. Mostly i'm going to be with family and friends. Because you see our families and our friends. Make a lot of sacrifices for their minister relatives. We're hardly ever available on weekends. Certainly never on sundays. Holidays like christmas and easter are work days for us and when our spouses or children come home from work or school. We're usually on the way out the door for a meeting. So i made a plan. For some period of every month. I would make a commitment to be with family and friends. Now sometimes that just translated into going to the museum with a friend and. Scheduling a dinner party on a saturday night. Also so i visited friends and cousins and other family in maine and maryland vermont and cleveland. And sometimes right around the corner. Near the end of my leave jonas and i travel to seattle and later to vancouver. A trip we built around his daughter amy's high school graduation. But there were two big trips. A month in lithuania to visit jonas's family. Some of whom even he had not yet met. And a trip to ireland. All by myself. With the excuse that i was invited to speak at an international conference on adoption. So what did i do on my sabbatical. I collected stories. And experiences. And i want to start with one i brought back from lex luthor away nia. To set the stage you need to know that i know now about 50 lithuanian words. And i'm really hoping you don't know any because my pronunciation is a little like someone from dorchester trying to imitate a southern accent. I do want you to cut me a little slack here because the lithuanian language is most closely related to sanskrit. Anyway here's a little of what i know. Weather. Hello. La botana. Good day. Ashitaba snelling. I love you. And. Baznycia. Church. Achoo. Thank you. And suji ava. Goodbye. Or literally translated. Go with god. No thankfully as you imagine imagine jonas speaks the language pretty well because it was spoken in his childhood home even though he was born and bread. A new yorker. Through and through. So here's how the story begins. Remember this is 2005. Everyone in lithuania has a cell phone. They wear them around their necks they have them in their pockets they talk where they're at the table they talk in the museum. Virtually no one has only one cell phone. Cell phones are everywhere. No place is off-limits church is not off-limits. To give you an example jonas is cousin at the time carried three different cell phone. One for the swedish business one for the lithuanian business and one for the family. Call. Now i realize this is much more common here today more common than i liked anyway. But in 2005 find out here. Not as ubiquitous as i found it there i was done frankly. And after a few days of hearing people answer the phone constantly. Fate stay closer. Just so this time class all class so. Jonas what does that mean why don't they stay lava hello. Eunice explained that class so mean literally. I am listening. Or i'm all ears you have my full attention. So then i realize that a phone conversation always phone conversations were beginning something like this. Clouseau. Person on the other end identified himself. Which would be. Oh hello jonas this is katie lee how are you. Okay. So for me there was this moment. When i realized. So mean i am listening. You have my full attention. It's when i felt like i got a call of my own. What if. I thought what if everyone approached every encounter with. I am listening. You have my complete attention. I mean. What if we really were. With me. Clouseau. I'm listening to your suffering. Clouseau. I'm listening to the groaning of the earth. Coso. I hear centuries of misunderstanding. That's brought our two countries there are two parties or r2 religion or are whatever's. You fill in the blank. To this impasse. I want to listen. Clouseau. This injustice has my attention and it will not let go. Any logical way. But this apparently everyday experience hearing the translation of a foreign word. Felt like something very important. In fact so important that i began calling it. Kind of newark renew want call to ministry. Can't honestly explain. Wyatt grabbed me then. Or even why it won't let me go now. I can't explain how i. Now approach listening differently than i did then. But i can only tell you that from that day to this. It has half. And for me it's huge. And i think that's what kay lindell means when she says. Listening is a way of being in the world. Once i have this focus. Then the stories and the experiences started flooding in. I remember the day that i walked in ireland. I remembered an npr story i thought of a hebrew prayer. And what mother teresa says about praying. And i just kept. Filling my suitcases with life. And it all seem to congregate around the heading. Clouseau. I'm listening. This i think is what someone meant. By the first in our unitarian universalist sources. For those of you who may be new to unitarian universalism. Let me explain. As you undoubtedly know we do not cite any one single authoritative source of inspiration as our scripture. Instead we say ours is a living tradition that draws from many sources. We've made a list of some of them but we don't pretend it's a comprehensive list. But it does suggest a range of sources of inspiration. Prophetic women and men. Earth center traditions. Jewish and christian teaching. The wisdom of the world religions. Humanist teaching. Send this one. Direct experience that moves us to a renewal of the spirit. I think that's what happened for me. It was a direct experience that moved me. To a renewal of spirit. And i've come to see all of these sources inspire me. But more often than not my biggest spiritual moments my biggest aha. Come from direct experience. And that's why i collect stories. Not just those mountaintop experiences when you feel like connected to the whole cosmos. Though i've had a few of those experiences. And once you've had one you never forget what it felt like. But also ordinary everyday experiences. Set by some quirky meaning-making on my part. Turn into something bigger. Like. And like that walking ireland. I was staying at the bmv and i met two fellow travelers in connemara. On the west. Coast of ireland. One morning i set out with a husband and wife. On what's called the skywalk. Along the cliff. Facing the atlantic ocean. And to one side with the ocean and a crumbling old castle and sheep grazing. And the other side was a little bit more hilly craigie hills. Covered with more. Grazing sheep i mean it. Just like you see in the movie. Except for the spectacular scenery and the breathtaking views you could say this was an ordinary experience. Three people went out walking. The husband and i. Clicking away with our digital cameras. Probably i sometimes think all i do is see the world through my digital camera. But we were going at it trying to capture every vista. But because his wife is blind. He at first and then i. Began describing what we were seeing. To my right is a donkey in a stone stall. He's chomping on his head. To the left as far as we can see are green meadows rolling down to ocean inlet. Off in the distance. Open ocean. Atlantic. So i assumed. This was how she was. Seeing. Our walk. Through our interpretation. Well even though it was february it was early spring in ireland. And i noticed that there was this kind of dirty spring runoff along a muddy got gully. To one side of the road basically made to drain the runoff. Out of the road so i didn't get it. And at one point. The wife stopped and said wait. Is that a rock. And she was mesmerized by the sound of the gurgling water. After a moment of two sheets. Fast with airbag and she came out with something and. And she lifted it out of her bag and she turned on a tape recorder. My camera. She explained. And then she recorded. The gargling water. From that moment on my hearing was a cute. I heard birds i hadn't heard before. I heard the wind. I heard roosters. And actually the three of us stopped and coaxed the roosters to speak for the tape. I was hearing the walk. Through her interpretation and my experience was profoundly richer. Because of it. Back home i reflected on his experience and i remembered the npr feature that i'd heard months before. It was a first-hand account from a man who's gone blind as a child. As his sight was failing rapidly. And he couldn't imagine being blind his grandmother encouraged him. Listen she said listen. Any claims now looking back on some 40 years of listening. It opened the world to him. I think now of the power of our small group ministry. Caylindoll calls it the sacred art of listening. Hear it first parish listening is a spiritual practice if you happen to be a member of a small group that meets regularly. In these groups for example. Participants agree to listen to one another. Without crosstalk. Without interruptions without observations or advice. Just. Each character gets a turn to speak and when one is speaking. All of the others are intently listening without saying nothing. Listening in that way is a discipline. Listening like that has a profound effect. In my own experience at least. The speaker feels heard but not judged. And those of us who are listening. Have these powerful insights of our own as we bear witness to someone else's story. You can't imagine how transformative it can be until you've experienced it. And somehow. Justice structure. Built on the practice of deep listening. Both. Hearing and being heard. Enable first virtually everyone in the group. To do spiritual work. By the way of commercial break here if you'd like to know more about spiritual small group ministry. Let me know. I'll be glad to put you in touch with someone who can help make that happen. And now back to our sermon already in progress. Chamorro israel. Let these words be written on your heart. The shema. The greatest hebrew prayer. Listen o israel. Let these words be written on your heart. That's what clouseau has come to mean to me. I am listening. For what is written on my heart. I am listening as a way of being in the world. I think it's closed so. When mother teresa explained how she prays someone said. What do you say to god when you pray. And mother teresa said. I don't say anything i just listen. What what does god say to you. Car doesn't say anything. God just listens. So dear friends. I am listening. I'm listening to you. I'm listening with you. And during this interim time the transition team will be inviting you to join listening circle. So that you can listen to each other. As you explore how you want to be in community. Who you want to be as a congregation. And what matters most to you. The purpose is simple. You are listening to discern what's written on the heart of this congregation. As well as what's written on your own heart. Clouseau. Listen to the story. Collect the artifacts the art and the artistry. That makes this congregation exactly what it is today. Collect ideas and inside. Imagine this congregation exactly as you wanted to be and become. Classdojo. You don't have to do anything. Just listen. Pay attention. The stories will come the experiences will appear. And if your experience is anything like mine. You'll find it's a new way of being. As an exciting clarity will emerge. And without any heavy lifting at all. You'll know exactly. What you want to do and be. Next.

uuneedham_org

031005_Julie_Nelson--Economic_Feminism%20.mp3

Good morning and welcome to first parish in needham. And to our continuing series this autumn on. Economically and enduring. Economics. Whippets. Claim to be a scientific study of how the market works. Would have relatively little to do. With issues. Gender. And yet. Reflection within the economically profession itself. Increasingly. Has demonstrated. That there are indeed. Issues that affect men and women differently within our youcanic system. Go to the park. Questions. And how we evaluate. But things is caring. My own home every evening. By coming in from a hard day of work saying to me. Well dear. Another day. Another $0.59. To what was at least in the earlier years of our marriage. Well publicized ratio. Female wedges. It's issues like this that they've engaged the study of our guest this morning. Dr. nelson. For a feminist perspective. Current economic issues. Affect. Mboze that stretch well beyond. Limits of our local community. Why is it for example that the work of caring for others. Valued. Now a senior research associate at tuffs at the center for. Global development environment. And her work when she was a fellow as these of. Better for values and public policy at harvard divinity school so she has a long record of working at the intersection. Economic and on her time any longer i want to you to give a warm welcome. The doctor juliet nelson. The devil came to the office of us young struggling economy and said. I can make all your articles. I can get you an appointment at harvard or mit your choice. I can put you at the council of economic advisers to the president of federal reserve board choice. Turn. Children children children. What's a cat. Study economics about self-interest are out the floor of economic modeling. Drive to harmonious productive. Economics before i went to work on my my phd. If i could count on one hand the number of people could ever put the term feminism economics in the same sentence without laughing. Grown quite a number is a internal economic books and international organization a lot more going on in the area. The anti-discrimination law the vamps of women in the perceptions and other kinds of of work i evil paid $0.59 to 72. Find an economics. Women. For example is what happened to the what about the traditional things that women did child-raising house cleaning all these kinds of thing. About the productive. Conservative estimates of what counting unpaid work of women would add the gdp another third in the us. A worldwide. With most of that unpaid work on being done by women. Not work. Tucanos for long time during labor economics between paid work and what they called leader. Area of work. Autonomous agents of the liberal ideas of citizen. Clear if you look at a tissues that make invisible care of interdependence. Larger social and human value. The time i got the money on the issue of caring labor. And how. Economist. Childcare. Nursing care. Real caring. Crisis going on. Example of nursing home. A consumer reports article. Couple years back nursing home. Arm. Compared to at home care. But the bottom line and i'll look at it. Emotional cognitive. The bad news is very good. Call trey fenner is not the same as the kind of beauty college child development program associated healthcare center most positive results. I told her. Hundreds of people centers that looked at could be rated as good to excellent. Care center. a good to excellent rating. Minimal to mediocre. Publix children in their care. Nursing home amount of the cost of running music. All the labor. Labor-intensive. The project involves a lot of a lot of workers. The average pay in child care. List for watching children than you do for walking watching parked cars parking lot attendants were above child care worker. Food service worker child care work in average pay. Are not surprisingly childcare workers have a typical turnover rate of 32 40% of year. Places where you would really like to have a stable. Caring environment. I found in a lot of nursing home. And doctors. American medical and healthcare professions. Not doing a good job of providing on it. Working particular on economist explanations for why karen procussions arlo peg. Capital argument. Teriyaki. Generations. Experience. . and that kind of. The person that you're working with. Automatically. Burnout. Attitude. Different kind of work. People to demand a premium. During labor is. Big enjoy helping other people. That argument has is even quite a lot. True. Negative parts. Really enjoy the work. Suppose you enjoy doing engineering work. Enjoy math. Getting orders. Top-notch manager. Astoria. Makeup store not go all the way. Central pictures. Why i would take this job with. How much are people wanting. Child care worker in warm feeling. Are going to go into that job. On the other hand if things like the defense budget runs up the expenditures on engineers. A kim. Android. That would allow it to be high pay. Another argument. Which of the following. We really don't want people getting the money. Therefore we better. Argument. Furiously. Right now. Add to keep it located protect the sucker. Against this one is what. Argument. Other opportunities or a job as a household can get. And bring some people. Very little. Stories about home health care aides. Their elders. But this is the kind of work they can get. Right. I love my job and i'm about to leave it. Got really tired of being poor. Not being able to find their kids. Hard not being able to live the kind of life that other college educated. Billion dollars a year. I just wanted their kids to have a decent life. And even though they were very curious. Possible for caring people to care. That would be allowed to work in the kind of work that kind of work in most productive in. Protection argument. Water heater. Oh that's argument comes from affordability. Shelter house. A one-person another person. U.s. is way behind a lot of other countries and thinking about responsibility. Free preschool for all kids 3 and up. Country. You have military spending and you have healthcare and have childcare. The choice to not pay. Caring for parents the way we came. Affordability. Try to stay within a given caring budget. During labor. Larger issues of economics and values. My mind a lot of economics profession. Very.. Epicurus is naturally fulfilling. Etcetera. I wanted to come back on. Organizing are organized by adam smith invisible hand. Interested. In a lot of the economy to greater production. When you're looking at your job choice it whatever. She doesn't in in in in in economics. Argument. Morva under two topics one pint. The story i told earlier. You don't go out with me. Medical technique. This is really how the hierarchy in the social sciences run in there for the better. The basic methodology of economic mechanic. Involved. They operate independently of that. I'm getting past the other 20 here and i'd like more discussion. Funny other images. That would work better than this image of the machine. Olympic color and mighty now sandra harding and other. An early secretary of the british royal society. Which will come to knowledge of solid truth. Images of the other of attention the male scientists probing the female passes. Nature nature and all her bounty. Them your slaves. Hard-science mathematical. And the panthers. Unknown. Aramark get onto that. Vikings more from the other books twitter. I think i told you before we started this morning i finished reading your friend nancy folders. I called invisible part. Which is i think subtitles a family values. Striking about summerford analysis. Underclass. By the kind of laissez-faire marketing, economic ocular. Ian. Temporary american. How many conservative religious leaders. Are supportive of that kind solve laissez-faire. Family. I'm just curious whether you have any reflections on the role of. Goodbye. An interesting. Your crisis. If you also take a picture. And come up with. That women at women moving out of the house. But if you have that view of independent woman and a patriarchal. Play sing song higher value on. Been providing any. 4. Care of either the very young and the very old. Buckeye music. Married. Striking. When i start thinking about some of my experiences with women's rights groups in other parts of the world. How much does a struggle. Equality. Was high.. With. Known as the patriarch. Trying to keep women. But. You help me see the wonderful things with that thing is really phenomx power. Dwarf covid-19. Bear in the background. Continuous. Take me to xsport. I'll get the thing called on. Remember. Cetera. For things like. Nickel world. American individualist. Messenger. I know an inn.. It's not a matter of telling them they have to get more individual ascend laissez-faire. I will try to get that that grounded me and are really her dependency. Former infant room teacher. That would put them over the edge into that we often talked about. The triangle of. The ratio of adults to children. The quality of the education. And the car. Have never been a really been able to figure out any way to address that i mean nose. Heavily linked. Do you have any. Where you know. What will have to change for any of those two. Increase. Nfl ravens. Depressingly. Mike barber. Your ladder for child development. What's the average rate for an hour. All the education credential. It's not a huge career ladder okay. Priority like transportation. And important. Is that what you doing. Other countries that have more adequate childcare. A lot of government support. Centralized. Models of the provision of care. In that area. Can you give an example because i agree with you this is extremely. Crucially important. People in need. Community what what are some of the model. What. Models of the parents would come in i'll go. Childcare. Another provider by subsidizing education subsidizing. Lower-income parent to subsidize public health care center the provider. Possible panels assembly more resources. Harder to make sure the parents are finding. Parents control. We need to recognize the value of care and. Proportionately. Her my perspective it seems that the reason we don't pay. And that we give care provider. Power. And i think lopez a low social status and power go together. Poor working conditions. If we don't value. As a culture. And. If that's the case. Then the problem that needs to be addressed is changing the value assigned to caregiving. Religious right actually seems to. Value meaning. How would you overcome that. How would you get the public to value. Not just. Oh my gosh i got to find a babysitter. This is. Important olive. Call peyton xpitax. I don't know. But i personally like to do on this is that i have found particularly upset protection argument you have to keep it low pay to keep it real care. Argument. I have noticed my given a talk on care versus some other thing. Gotham. Take care of them when i get off. Idea. Going. I hope. Care for elderly. Call reese example of the way in which france provides. For free. Justice that there was a deeper sense of social solidarity. Power. Don't you think this is this. America imagine the sense of social solidarity. We don't want to take care of those people. What journalist in that regard where's the lack of solidarity. Play the california public school system for example the chips and do the majority. Having a much more individualistic. Stronger. Loss of status in economically. Within my own lifetime i root my reminder this a mentor i had to give in college who i'm being informed that i was going to reply. Without you. Study economics in college. Kind of dumb. Okay. Make a point. You're not just being suckered if you try to want to do something with your life at sears other people scale undergraduate. Suddenly remembering the conversation i had with a parishioner. Particular. Person on wall street responsible in fact for the international equity placement. Off work early large firm but he was also an absolutely marvelous. Common council with me. About going to sumner. Active work with that rescue. Which by the way album. But i remembered. Economically training. Why not to cut out the middleman. Route to the denver was really quite striking. Yakamein. Working with. Museum. Ultimately by the way he went through. And continues to work with that rescue. Also found this meeting is over family. Guaifenesin. I think that have merged in american wife. Observation. Come from people trying to balance. With a workforce.. What is rewarded. Population. Mentalis. That many people experience. Call me back. Affordable dentures. America. Becoming a major. Call mom. Do i just throw that out as an example. What's the sort of caring. And. Negative interpersonal relationships that go on in what we think of the world economy. The workplace finance etcetera. Parts image of economy. Until i find not only economist assuming that firms maximize profit and therefore they're always going to cut costs etcetera. Never going to. Come around. Values are not relevant you are constrained from doing anything responsibly or whenever you're in this economic realm. Dangerous. Organizational behavior. Ethical. Don't just say okay the market is driving me to. And i can make a choice. Offer something with a greater canaan valley. Contradict. For those things that would set marketplace. A sense of community solitary. And that strikes me as terribly fatalistic. A r k. When it comes to wisconsin. How to model. Needless to say at the unitarian universalist, the book. More. Framework for understanding human behavior. Call. Market economy in a democratic society from. A little bit more about this. Circle. It's now become. Apartment. Group. International organization for economics. Internal and international support for each other. In the profession as a whole. Still pretty much a dirty word. There are some cats.. Women in the workforce this since they kind of confusing applying standard economic model. A few more people in economics. Another successful. I wasn't a tenured position in california that left for family reasons and then have run into. Various. For the kind of work that i do. How far we have to go. Economic perspective. Wichita to broaden the scope of economic journal. Making it more readable to a general public. Volume. Widen the scope of economics articles from auntie. Women's increase labor force participation didn't even make it in. Article. Nobody really mentioned that women have joined the paid labor for much less anything about. Economic man. We're still not on the radar screen. Remarks. We're now very clear that if we're going to hit. About ultimate reality at all. We're going to have to take into account. Talking about it. The selection process of socialization process. Has a lot to do with the ceiling i've got privileged knowledge about the economy and he asked me to share it with you i will load you up with words how much i know.. Soundtrack. Will talking about labels i wondered if labeling these issues as women's issues cited degrades them in some way because they're really not women's issues. Daycare centers have two kids are. Why do we label them as women's this is seems like a huge issue that goes beyond women. And i haven't really talked about this. Azhar kind of culturally coded as. Okay. Part of it. Birdman up here would be.

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20120325_oh_snap_christian_sermon.mp3

I think about being wrong a lot. I have this. Probably not. Best thing about me but i have this sort of obsession with being right i think it's really important. I'm kind of competitive i want to be right. Especially if that makes the other person wrong sometimes especially proud of but i want to be honest with you. I think a lot about being right. Allison kathryn schulz nailed it on the head. There's nothing i can think of right now. That i am wrong about. My wife might disagree. The frequency that bed sheets should be changed or. We have an ongoing disagreement about what toppings belong on a pizza. I like pepperoni and mushroom she likes cheese nothing but cheese. Extra cheese if we're going to be a little risky maybe. So we disagree but i. Think i'm right. I know i've been wrong in the past i know i'll be wrong in the future i even know intellectually that. There are probably some ideas or thoughts were faxed it. I am wrong about even as we speak. But i don't think so. This was brought. To my consciousness more than ever in this season in which we hear a lot of people saying with great certainty. A whole lot of things that cannot all be true. I speak of course about the republican candidates for president. Which even if we take the basic premise that they might be right they disagree with each other so surely some of them must be wrong at least some of the time right. And yet they have such certainty when they say stings don't they it's incredible. And i realize that. I occasionally see that in myself too. I'm entirely certain of things but no doubt i will one day be proven wrong about. It's an interesting thing. This idea of being right and wrong. And not knowing what the differences until it's pointed out to you. The title of today's sermon is ohsnap. On being wrong. The pop culture reference i like to watch the show the big bang theory. The big bang theory. Maybe a few of you who watches the sitcom. It follows the lives of several young men and one woman. The men are all employees at a local university their physicians and not physicians physicists engineers except for their very bright people. The woman is an aspiring actress and current waitress. One of the characters. Has a tagline he always says oh snap. He usually says this right after someone else has been proven. Incontrovertibly that they're wrong. Some of us might see is an insult. He's just affirming but that was a very concise way of proving someone else wrong. Oh snap. I thought of this recently. As i was doing some bible study. There's a story that jesus tells. I rather about jesus that i so think of as the ultimate oh snap moment. Jesus is coming to a new town. And a woman approaches him. She's not an israelite she's from a different tribe. She's not someone. The jews looked upon with great favor she's known infection doesn't even get a name she's known only as the syrophoenician woman. After her ethnic group. She approaches jesus and she asked him a simple question. Great teacher can you heal my daughter. Jesus isn't too keen on this. He says. My gifts are not to be wasted on the dogs. I have a big insult i mean i don't think of jesus is saying such terrible things but he does here. He essentially calls this woman who's from a different ethnic group a dog. Now she could get mad she could storm away she could i don't know. Clapping. But she texted different tact. She says yes great teacher. And i already screwed up the story didn't i. This is the danger in doing a sermon about being wrong sort of highlights when you're on jesus not only says my gifts aren't to be wasted on the dogs who makes an analogy he says the great banquet feast is not to be fed to the dogs. It's for my father's children. Now she could get mad as i said. But instead she replies a different way she says yes master. But even the dogs get the scraps from the master's table. Even the dogs get the scraps from the master's table. I think it's impressive what jesus does next. Because i don't think i would take it so kindly to being shown how wrong i was. Jesus says. You're right. Your daughter is healed. What an amazing he's just been told ohsnap. You're wrong. But instead of getting mad or storming away himself. He says you know what i was wrong. You're right. I should help you it doesn't matter what ethnic group you're from. Even the dogs get the scraps from the master's table. I think about this a lot like i said i think about being wrong. Not a pleasant thought in my mind i'd like to think i'm right but i realize that i'm wrong sometimes. I think it's something that many of us here might not want to think about. We think we're unitary universalist for smart people. Many of us have a lot of education we come here and we talk about important things. And we've probably figured out most of it we're right all the time right this is a thought i have sometimes maybe i'm the only one. So i offer two lessons from unitarian universalist history. That might poke a hole in that. 100 years ago many unitarians especially a number of unitarian ministers. Thought that some people were better suited to reproduce than others based on their ethnic groups. You might have heard of this it was popularly known as eugenics it was the idea that some races of people are more fit to live than others. A similar idea showed up in nazi germany which encouraged the nazis to kill 6 million people they thought weren't deserving of living. And again this was something that unitarians many unitarians thought was right. The wrong. 150 years ago. 160. A different idea wasn't so popular. We like to think that all unitarian universalist were on the side of abolishing slavery. But that's the. A revisionist view of history. Particularly before 1854 many unitarian universalist. Atmos supported a gradual into slavery and many of them made their living off of things like shipping and banking that relied upon slave power in order to make money. Abolitionism was not a popular thing in unitarian circles at one time. Which seems like a strange thing to us today i would imagine it seems like a strange thing to me. It made me think of a story about a man not a unitarian. But a man named john newton. The name may not mean anything to you but i guarantee almost every one of us is familiar with his work. He wrote a song you might have heard of. That's a. He wrote those words and it wasn't just a nice thing for him to write one day. John newton had been the captain of a slaving ship. One of the ships that took goods from america and from england cu to the caribbean or africa in order to trade for slaves and bring them back. Eclipse in north america. Even the captain of such a ship. Not just a sailor he was in charge he owned a share of the boat. And one day he had a conversion experience and realize that that might not be the best thing to do. Daiki realize he was wrong. Now i like the story particularly because it shows that it's very very difficult to admit that you're wrong. Because it took him 34 years before he really became an ardent abolitionist. It was 34 years from that epiphany moment that caused him to write amazing grace. To the day he actually became an abolitionist opposed to slavery completely. It can take a decade or three to admit you're wrong sometimes i guess. But it's with that idea that amazing grace that i want to leave you today. I think a lot about being right and wrong. And i think i'm wrong about that. It's wrong for us to obsess about being right or wrong all the time because those are less important things. Then love and grace. It's more important for us to be no to know and to be known for our love. That we love that we have compassion that we want to be loving people then that we want to be at the right people. This is the idea i think is true. I hope i'm right about it. And so with that. I want to leave you with a piece of poetry from the great sufi poet from rumi. Albion's ideas of right doing. And wrongdoing. There is a field. I'll take you there. Alphaeon ideas of right doing. And wrongdoing. There is a field. I'll take you there.

uuneedham_org

041121_Lyceum9_Buehrens.mp3

Orumrohn public affairs. Quality comfort new york. Have the odd tab from introducing myself as the speaker supportive do-it-yourself sunday at the lyceum but i have been traveling around the country introducing my new book. About progressive interpretation. Recent elections in america have caused many progressive people. Wonder whether they can. With religious issues moral value. And the ability to articulate. For some years now along with other colleagues in progressive religion i have been saying. Indeed. For modern progressive people need to literally. Perverted people. The right to interpret the central symbols of our culture. You and i when we look at the flag of our country. I hope know that it stands among other things for the bill of rights. In my congregation when we speak about family. And about mother. We know that there are all kinds of family. Women are. Call murali. Reply when a mother. And when we speak about the devil. We do not believe that it belongs solely to the religious right. Or that its interpretation. With those. The most traditional paper. Of the theological decreasing. Accumulated. We believe firmly that it's a radical.. We are required. Interpretive relationship to if we are going to live up to what our tradition called the priesthood. Call paul believer. Property nowhere those who read the signs of the times in the life of human experience. In orders that collectively we might. Around. That we might help been the long moral hard for the universal bit more for justin. More than anything else by. Deep devotion to the philosophy and theology of the jewish state the martin buber. During the 1930s recognizing that in germany the biblical tradition has become deeply. Call entangled with antisemitism. Uber was in the process of retranslated in the hebrew bible. Into the german language. When the other came to the door and demanded that he surrender all of the subversive literature that he had. He simply looked it up the text of the hebrew prophet. But he was working out. This is the most aggressive literature i know for challenging the kind of idolatry. A blood boil that you represent. You know idolatry can be simply defined as the workup of apart. Reply. In place of you comforting whole. Create. Understanding the bible. An introduction for septic. Religious liberal. I wrote it after sending a sabbatical semester at my alma mater harvard divinity school. Shortly before the book was published i was seated next to the former dean of the school. Stendhal. The former bishop of stockholm sweden and my original t-shirts. In new testament. Where am i. You were my father in god i probably to you that i can see. I have sinned against every canon of the harvard divinity school when it comes to scholarship i have written what hope would be a popular book about the bible. Be forgiven. What people do you think you've written for. Address to speakers and religious liberal. And what part of the bible are you going to do. That's where i probably need the most absolute. Ut my publisher gave me exactly two hundred paces it would provide an introduction to the whole thing the title understanding the bible an introduction. And so now we will understand, will we. I want to hear you that i know the temperature. Provide appliance interpretation. Call the entire. Legacy. Contrary what i try to do is to help people get over. Some of the most common barriers. Appreciatively understanding in buford iowa. Return to martin buber. 1 dipascali snow. What's the human being are really transform. When there is that kind of deep biological i involve relationship. Behind them. A larger. And more enduring. Beaverton do however that it was easy for us to miss me. Not to really connect four people opening the pages of the biblical literature. Never quite connect with isaiah. Or the song. Or the evangelist. Partly because the question. Can be questions with introducing this meeting. Uber said that there are no wrong in a relationship where you and i try to really get to know one another. One is that one of us both of us stay in the encounter entirely tied up in our own feelings our own subjectivity. For the experience of the other. Nexus subjectivity. The other thing that can go wrong is that we can go into a human encounter pretending that we've already got the objective answer. Whatever the topic is. We stand outside. And pretend to an objectivity vet. Really. Subordinated. Iowa. Beautiful metaphors today was the metaphor of walking a narrow river. On the high ground you said that is thrown up by the contradiction. Human existence whenever. Beyond subjectivity. Riptide of any pretense of objectivity. Studying the biblical literature. There are lots of approaches out there. One of these ways of misleading. There's lots of historical approaches to the bible for example. The actual. When we open the literature what we're really interested in is the proper order of the kings of israel. Or the sociology of the time of david. They contribute to our understanding of develop. In trying to understand what the biblical authors were up to. The other side what were interested in and after all is the literary side. The question of what is this literature. Really have to say about this. The deeper. Convey to me. But we can get caught up rather superficial. On both side to buy. Typical objective question i think the block many. People from. Reading the biblical literature with a deeper appreciation and having a fuller encounter with a simple one. If the question did it really happen that way. Not always a terribly profound question when you stop and think about it. I'm reminded of a friend who was in the process of developing a sunday school curriculum that was going to include the story of jesus walking on water. When one of her partner. Of course. Better metaphor. Who were expressing. What kind of personal transformation that they had undergone in their encounter with jesus. After his death were simply saying that what they remembered about him was that he would someone who moves through the storm of life. With kind of inner calm and courage. Could not be shaken by the way. Metaphorically. Reading the bible promote completely literary point of view however. Leave things out of historical contact. Introduce people to some of the approaches of a double literature that are currently in. One of my favorite books about the hebrew bible a book by miles another. Graduate of harvard divinity school. Biography. I regard jackson as an attempt to get past one of the primary. Problematic. More superficial questions that many people raise. When reading the bible as literature. It's very easy to start in the hebrew bible and come to a point where you say wait a minute. If this is a story like a novel. Character. Mind you. Bribes anti-semitism. In a predominantly christian culture. Bark. Hampden. Absorbing take a note. The god of bonita. Bother. God. Where is the god of the hebrew bible. Is arbitrary. And cruel. And a lawgiver without mercy. What jack points out in his. Book donna biography. But if you read the story of the hebrew bible. You have to at least recognize. Does the dialogue between god and god's people. Change party. You're at the beginning of the story. The hebrew national epic. There is a sense of. Arbitrary in a relationship. Sometimes god seems very quickly. Playing. Well in the time of the new election for example. What everything. A bit of an overreaction if you ask me. As you come into the land. Already there. The arbitrariness however long arthur the story eventually moderators so. God get better. Warpaint. More. More inclusive. Do universalism modes of jonah story. No modern iraq. By the end. The wave properties of. The author known as the second isaiah. There are images. Call the lion lying down with the lamb and. Home depot. Being invited into covenantal relationship with one another. Done with the creator. Common worldwide. Arkham. Meredith better. You're making this. Very typical. Between. Bugatti veyron testament. Albuquerque. Do a book written by form. Reading the bible again for the first time. The differences within. Community of christian believer. Michael pendergraft. Buddhist or muslim. Attempting. By non-believers in our own culture. Cultural literacy but it's also aimed at. Our own spiritual maturation and relationship literature. After all left our relationship with the biblical literature level of. The most implausible catechism class that we were given because at 11. Or the worst or more traumatizing sermon that we heard young at all. I tried to suggest for the time that we move on and claim our own door right. Do interpreter literature. And the understander for ourselves attempt to come into dialogue. With the intentionality of its original water. A matter then of. Understanding that the bible is a lair. Literature. Develop. Crouton. Need to be understood in the store for contacts to have any. Meaning at all today. Rarely do. Fundamentally. And we also have to understand that it is literature is it. Survive. And a wisdom. Quite radical. People have a core call time of. About contemporary culture. Some people talk about sex. Wonderful easter this preoccupation. Although i must admit. The more i thought about it the more it occurred to me that the hebrew bible came together. Keepers were returning from their exile in babylon. An exile that could cause them to collect all of their tradition. A function of constitutional law. Six centuries before the common era. Time of ezra and nehemiah whenever a readout sephora mba. Temple precinct round deere 450. On those relatively few things in the biblical the hebrew biblical tradition. For example. Deal with homosexuality. It was a time when the hebrews were very conscious. Continue. Make a phone call. It was during that time of the return then. Marrying only within. You know had many wives go to the problem. Most of them were not. But in the time of ezra. The question of marrying only. Within. In the book of leviticus rulebook for how to set up a camp over again. And how the priests would. Maintain ritual purity yes you get. Denver. Queen anne on queen act. A1 reference. Equality. Buy placemats however in historical context. And remember also that. David loved his friend jonathan. With olaf credit protector. Surpassing the love of women. And that there is almost no.. Sandeep singh. Central. Preoccupation. Indeed. That seems to be the central preoccupation hebrew bible after all is the covenant. Made between those who had escaped from bondage in egypt. A course of their freedom. The exodus story of those they got out there in the wilderness at the base of mount sinai. A million. I'm grateful for their freedom. And pretty boy speaking.. A beyond creation itself. Avoid the vehicle.. With the god of their poor bear. Said to them. People away you were created in your time of oppression. And don't treat one another on the road that lies ahead that way either. Don't make temple. Did any aspects of the created order. Remember. And your gratitude. Baeza. Aren't they. Piece of profound. About relationship. With one another. Dan river store. Lisinopril. One can read the bible rather. Without bialik. Bill finds his profound wisdom. The prophetic tradition is constantly in the temp. Relations with one another. Deeply dialogical relationship. Open-ended human speaker. One last thing about the hebrew bible before i stopped and begin to take some of your question. Today of course the question why is the god of the hebrew bible quote infernal email. And there are at least two responses. 1. You may know that there are at least. Different uses for the divine. One is the personal name of god the unpronounceable name the holy name. Why whw. Grandpa rated. Jehovah. A common english. Transporter racing. Printed bible simply. M'lord. The translation of the hebrew that substituted for the divine name. The name. The burning bush. Related. Grammatical. Creator. The other name that uses. Almost. The divine. And of course there are two stories of creation. In one. God's prayer. But instead of god male and female. God created them. And god dammit. God created. Of the plurality of the divine hand of the feminine as an aspect of it never went away. And i think that there's a simple reason for that explains primarily by the literary literary critic northrop frye. Who is one of the best of the biblical literature is kind of the deep dna bar culture. Run through all of our arts and music and literature. He points out that in the ancient near east. There were only two. Controlling metaphors. Or. The ultimate sacred quality. When was the earth. That would bring for hymen. Would revolve in. Associated. With a female. And the other with the sky god. It would roll by with thundercloud. Rather unpredictable. Bring the rain.. Hebrews collected. The guy god as the dominant dinner. Gender predictor. It is perhaps because. Central to their spirituality. What's the temperature guide work in time. More than you. Back to the bluebird story. For particular people. It is those relationships that develop among human beings in time in history. Weather story. Start at the beginning of the bible we have a hymn. M7. The wonder. Call creation developing. Beginning of time. Rumba. Population of hawaii. And the darkness. Emergence of human being. It's not a piece. Chippewa high school. Any more than they are paid from the high school science textbook belong. Albuquerque synagogue. In with the hebrews. Rather remarkably self-critical. Of their own failure to treat one another. With the respect. Annually take a kind of god's eye point-of-view. And criticize the ruler. Criticize their own unfolding. The great contribution. To our western civilization. Has been the potential for us to step back. And see how our culture and our politics are unfolding. And whether we are loading up. Standard of covid-19. With one another relationship. A reason. To unpack. Hebrew bible. A christian scripture. In our own time. What is topical point in begin to take some of your questions and responses i love to beaver. What's the part of the bible that has always bothered me about. And what i will attempt to do today and then. Further in a workout that i'm going to get offers next week. What i'll try to do is what. Biblical scholarship. Anthem. Scholarships in oregon. Is doing to help us unpack summer break. Parts of the bible that always bugha. Surely you have something that is always bothering you about if i can't offer up. I think your truck done it already but i'm interested. To give god a human personality. Kind of. On the one hand. I might pronounce your name you might pronounce mine but we don't talk about. What we don't fully understand. Uber said. We can never fully. Comprehensive somehow seem to address. Alien holding a bar. You have no alternative. But to experience. Beyond. So only the more naive approach your interpretation of the bible is all that anthropomorphics. Recognize that what's divine camping captor. With many of these near eastern. There was a funeral. Holy moly. Coronavirus. Golden tresses hair. Was the tablet. The memory. But i'm encounter. Call anderson ford. Not not a divine image. Royal figure. The early israelites brought the date they really weren't people that was meant to have an ordinary king like david resolve. They were meant to be. Community of equal. The only ultimate ruler. Was the ruler who gave given them. The ruler of the universe. Transcendent being the ultimate authority. Comment. More about god getting better i know what you're saying. Very hard. Professor of law at harvard. Has recently written a book about the development of the ten commandment. In which sequence alter some of the stories that are placed in the legendary time. Before the exodus. Stories of what. Noah cain and abel. What is the patriarchy. Julius way. Illustrating the very thing that we should not do. Murder our sibling. No matter how tempting. No parent has ever raised children wear that they haven't encountered some of that sibling rivalry boys are the hebrew scriptures are realistic. About. Story of noah one other thing story of noah's sons uncovering his nakedness and when he's drunk. Rmv in the early legend of book of the bible. Directly related. To the more positive. What does pointing out in his book. Is that. The early parts of the structure. Contained a great many things that are. Human divine interaction. How we should behave. Or are you even. They're primarily to depict the character. Of the divine. But rather to throw human being interacting with a very limited. Understanding. Inventory doesn't get better. People will get the story of abraham and isaac. Kind of god. Well. Difficulties with that interpretation. Actually it is an imposition. Elements of christian theology on top of boat. Remember that it's in christianity that we get. God sending.. Sacrifice. And that store. As being primarily around abraham. When i do work got some on me. i try to get people to understand. The original purpose was that story in the hebraic tradition. Which was primarily to say. And that's not what god expects of us. At some level we think. Everything that comes to about the crown thanksgiving. The first born. Almost universal. In which sea stories. Example of. What's the greek. Subjected. Sacrifice. Archaeologist now find brother for roofing. Perpetuated that story. Precisely to say that no matter what the other people. The region major. What's that app. Our god. Is war. And. There's the park of develop. In which. Toward the end of the. .. Hebrew history. Horrible debacle prediction. Division of the prophets universalistic. And the patron. Omg inclusive of god poseidon. Not arbitrary order. How many world religions. About aaliyah crawford. Going off. Returning after. Interior design and it's very the word. The religion. Established. Coming out of egypt. Use the term hebrew. Because it's related to a word that you find him. Egypt. I'll be rude. Bonded labor. And people who head. Immigrant. In time of desperation and had become. Damian player. Archaeologists don't really think that it's likely that the entire people who later became israel. Hepatic.. Projected backward perhaps only the tribe of levi. Moses and aaron. The accident. By the way. The differentiate the religion called. Play hebrews from the religion of egypt. Where is the federal system. Concern to have their bodies preserved in. Play new religion with on. Making the transition to the next life. Far from being the kind of person to whom. Thomas later in if i coming to work a bit soon. The story is buried in an unknown place. Describe. He's immortal. And the emperor. The religious tradition. Is on the keeping of carbonado trusted relationship you in this life. Later after the exile. You gather the beginning of symbolization of new life coming out of down. Ezekiel dry bones. Beautiful figure. Who establishes a religion. Normative. So unlike many founders of otherworld semi-divine. Rivermark. How many battles in the old testament what's the purpose of all the wars going on in your pictures telling history. But one of the things that archaeologists have discovered is that the tv. Book of joshua barrera example which describe the. Coming into the land. Being commanded to have warfare with the amalekites the other people to canaan. Any archaeological evidence of their having been. Jericho being destroyed the time of the. Legendary battle. The character of. American american. The battle of the alamo in a lot of legendary material around that sort of thing it's almost projected into the past with a lot of heroic. Nationalistic fervor. 12 prime. Came into covenant with one another. Archaeologist. The real. Hobby rule in related people came into a kind of confederation. Timbaland rather than conquering us from without. For example native american plays the part of. It's a cigar puritan forebears thought of themselves as the new israel. And felt that they have been given. Divine right. Lamb. Seems to me an example. How important it is. A political and cultural level. Some debates about the interpretation of this area. There were. Weider gym. New england. During the time. With. The native american. Amore prophetic line. And not one that was nationalistic. Or entitled. In our own time. I think many of the debate. About the relation between our culture. With its typical heritage and other cultures religion. If we allow only those who interpret this history chauvinistic. Speedometer. We're going to lose that. Spell critical. Empathetic. Which i think is. Hyde park. Okay. Tap the time when hebrew word for spoken language. Among. By the time of jesus. People. Glee cast. Hebrew. Go to. Scattered around the hellenistic world in the roman empire. The common language of the time which was a greek, greek. And the revival in the. . between about 200 before the common era. And them. 50 before the common era was translator. In alexandria need to integrate. It included a number of things that had never been written in hebrew. Call ahead. Develop. In the hellenistic.. Devon development of wisdom literature. Like the wisdom of them.. Reformer. We're trying to make the bible. Simpler. And acceptable to ordinary reader. And not just in the hands of the priest. Jama medieval catholic. They actually went back and retranslated. Babe ruth. Included only those book. Better header hebrew original. Bellator. Greek language development. Which you'll find in some bibles how is the apocrypha. Ruby of having more sacred literature developing went on for quite some time. Question what are we going to regard as scripture. I didn't get finally settled until about the middle of the second century of the common era of the forming christian movement were also traveling the question of what's going to be in the canon of the christiansburg. And what will not. About 150 you get the rabbis determining in the midtown. What are the things that we're going to comment on. Authoritative scripture for reading in the synagogue. And at the same time. We're dealing with what was the outbreak of early christian anti-semitism. Between the synagogue in the church. And of. They were dealing with the fact that one of their. Your patron commanding marthiam really wanted them to get rid of the hebrew bible altogether. Call m.d. 3ds and only use the letter to call. Authoritative. And an edited version of his favorite gospel writer. There was a recognition that luke was not the only gospel out there was the one that was directed most poured non-jews. But there was also the gospel of matthew. The gospel four gospel of mark we could probably develop there again or near palestine. Probably around the time of the destruction of the temple in 70. Rpe. That needed to be included in the decision to include. Before. Canonical gospels. The gospel of john. My name is dave. Which frankly could cause the most trouble. Because not only does it have the most contrived to empty semitism. And with you constantly have references to the jews. Jesus in a way that is. Really more theological. Denver colorado. It's not set up the same as the other gospel. Is morrissey racist thurman focus on a parabolic action or a miracle. Attributed to jesus. And he's not portrayed in a pattern of a jewish prophet of war. You can't really storical eimagine. Teacher of the time we going about. Dang things to colleges like i am the way the truth and the life. This is in fact. Frequently. A projection of theological reflection. Obama from people who were at some remove. I'm actually ever having known him but it made it into the can. Boulder. Interpretations of jesus. Kind of by wisdom teeth were almost a jesus. Associated with the so-called gnostic tradition. Did not. Probably filled with some things that are can be can be reasonably. With the portray jesus as. Teaching in shorts and sometimes rather cryptic aphorism. Call imparable. Where are the both matthew and luke use the text wife,. Wichita water. Call. they both grew upon the same. What's not in mark. But there were other more speculative tech. Beyond. Apocalyptic vision of the future. Rather gnostic form that is a special knowledge that comes to people. Yeah kind of. It was not. Included denver co. Authority. Is the church was developing a structure of authority with the. Hotels port. But maintains a certain uniformity of message. People who were having their own individual. Revelations of jesus including women. Call we're not given. During my priests were barred from illiterate. Who got to write things down. Even if women were a big part of the action. The mail bride. Part of dominance debacle criticism. Offensive. Take that into account mp2 pictures of women were a bigger part of the story. Ben stiller. Mp prepared to do some imaginative reconstruction. About why. They got marginalized and what their real experience may have been like. I don't know if any of you could read anita anita diamond wonderful reconstruction of the experiences of women in the. Hebrew bible camp. Which is a midrash an interpretive story a bill to unpack. Problematic dory. Call total story of dino. Only named daughter. Jacob. A relationship with her brother. Powerful powerful midrash done in feminine form. My teacher elizabeth triplett direnzo roman catholic german scholar. Told me that one of the things that needs to be done about the early christian literature is not only to take seriously some of the gnostic literature they got left out. It's also to say when the early christians start saying things like. Women. Don't be concerned. Waves obey your master. What was going on here. What is the church with developing a firework. And if they were coming under persecution. By roman authority. Vaporwave. With. The radical egalitarianism. But jesus himself its own. Whitman women. Mcnary. Work with many women. And they began to say. Roman household code. Authority figure. Are allowed. Deal with the outside world. They had to tell the women in the place. Require. Radical spirituality. Equality are there. Abdominal interpretation involves what against the grain. Don't always take a look at a text. Can't believe that it is there to say. Something repressive. Or at least people. But if there was. Authority figure trying to do some repressing. Egalitarian and indeed. Daring. And predictable. Weather the long-winded response but i hope that's helpful. One last question how do people say that the whole bible is the word of god. Forget everything else. About. Hebrew and christian scriptures. Is that they do not claim to be authored by god. Bug bite. That's why you have all of these me of the profit. And the evangelist the book are tributed fire human being. Rather different by the way from say the claim of revelation that in the quran. And one of the difficulties that our muslim sisters and brothers cab in trying to come. Do a more modern interpretation of their own religious prediction. Right there. But it is raining the fundamentalist. Treated his do it work. Buy reddit. Biblical predicting this song. We have to take a different approach. Call puddin. The letter kill. At the core of the biblical tradition. Hebrew scriptures wise deliberation. And the covenant will relation. Human beings are men. Kettering. With. One another. And with. And in the christian scriptures. It is the radical egalitarianism. Discipleship. That broke through all accumulated predicted. Communities around. Best friend. But it is that.. That is worth recovering. If we are going to get town all of the more repressive interpretations of the biblical.. And fine. Enter into dialogue with it. Many many creative inspired office. Thanks for your attention this morning bonita lyceum. Program of the first parish in needham massachusetts unitarian universalist.

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20111009_preparing_to_fail_christian_sermon.mp3

Denver feel like a failure. Cuz i do. Everytime i can't get the blinds to go up. Or i forget about something my wife asked me to do or we know. They're little failures sure but i still wish i could get a handle on them. Especially that blinds thing. Phillies spring release ones and every time it just flies out of my hand right it's beside the point. I just don't like to fail. It's frustrating to not be able to do something right the first time. Even more so it's not be able to do it at all. It's not enjoyable. But it's my hoe. Felt like ira glass all this failing has some greater purpose i think it does. I think failure is important. There's the obvious part in that failing can teach us a lot about what we're trying to do even if we can't do it. Play i love that story about thomas edison. Trying to make a better light bulb. Really the first light bulb that made any sense since you could actually use it for more than a few minutes of the time. So we tried over and over to find a filament that would provide a bright lights. Hand would last for a long time. Thousands of combinations of metals fibers whatever he could get his hands on anything he thought might work. His words ring in my ears young man why would i feel like a failure and why would i ever give up. I now know definitively over 9000 ways that an electric light bulb will not work. Success is almost in my graphs. The solution came when you use a carbonized bamboo filaments and idea he had while fishing with bamboo poles. But it took in the end about 10,000 failures to make one success but what a success. I totally understand that. This failure thing. You know where i most feel like a failure. And. The place where i feel like failure might be worth it. I wish it was something more profound than this but it's not hears confession time. It's when i play golf. Something i don't do much lately. I am not a good golfer. I hit a hundred shots around. And good players hit 75 or 80. My shots don't go straight they don't go far. They usually zero in on the nearest bush and settle is deep within as possible. But even if i hit 99 bad shots in a round and it's happened. I've never gone an entire day without getting at least one good shot. And i feel so good i got to tell you when the club hits the ball squarely and it rings all through your body. And the ball flies straight sandshrew and goes more or less where i wanted it to go it's amazing. It's something i don't feel like my words are even doing justice to you. Of course. The fact that this only happens once in a great while might be ashamed. But still it's the thing that keeps me going out there that one shots. There's something you said here about practice and preparation i had. I imagine. Practice makes perfect they say. Or john wooden. Who gave me the idea for the sermon the legendary basketball coach said that. Failing to prepare. Is preparing to fail. Preparation matters which is probably one of the reasons why i'm such a terrible golfer. I don't get much chance to practice or play. And if you don't prepare yourself to play well by practicing by getting better you're not going to play well. I know this it's not magic. We all know this and yet imagine sometimes it's hard to convince ourselves of it. I had an experience couple months ago i've already spoken to you about a little. Where the importance of preparation hit home for me. I spent two weeks at tsubaki grand shrine historic shinto shrine in japan. And one of the things i did there. Was a shinto ritual called me stogie. Muskogee is a purification ritual to boil it down to a couple words. But it's so much more than that to. It's about preparing yourself to be purified. That sense of preparation is key and shinto. They have a right way to do well everything. You don't just drink tea. You answer the teahouse on the proper way you sit in the right place you eat your sweet kick first you have the hand prepared tea you think the tea house attendant and you leave in the proper way. To give an example. And muskogee is no difference. The waterfall under which you stand as part of the ceremony is the home of the spirit the commie. The great spirit sarutahiko to whom the shrine is dedicated. He's the most powerful of the earthly, he's often depicted as a tall powerful man longnose clothing leather carrying a big sphere. And that waterfall. Whose water comes from above on the sacred mountain is his home. As such you don't just walk into the waterfall you purify yourself before you even go in there to be further purified. The process is a sacred one. Again there's a right way to do things. You wear the right thing. A loincloth for men a simple robe for women. Headbands for either with a sacred symbol on them. You perform a prayer of purification inside the shrine. After going outside you perform a series of physical exercises inviting energy into your body and cutting away impurities. My favorite part was forming a sword. Something like this that's her first two fingers of your right hand. And literally cutting the air as you yell. To get rid of the impurities. After that at the side of the waterfall more preparation is necessary. Priest performs the ritual and prayer and then purifies the water using salt and sake the rice wine. By mixing them sipping the mixture and spewing it across the water. I was curious about this. Not so much why it's done but. What salt and soccer game it's mixed together must taste like. So my third time i got brave and actually asked. And he was sake son the priesthood out. You can try i'm into something for hitting you here have some. It's really awful. It's it's terrible. Salt water with alcohol it's a bad mixture. I'm here to testify to you you don't have to try it yourself. But i did try it i spew the water out. I did what i was supposed to do. So all of that is merely preparation for entering the waterfall. Then you step into the ice cold water. Anna pounds down on you with what feels like hundreds of pounds of force. You force your hands together middle fingers extended. And sacred gesture and you shout out the prayer a ride to my kiyomi tamiya broken shoulder. Which roughly translates as purify my soul wash my soul. He's screaming over and over. Forcing the words to leave your mouth even though it's about the last thing you want to do. It's powerful. It's impossible not to be changed by that experience. Not to have the power of the water in the commie and the experience get into you. Stepping out is almost to let down. You bound claps the waterfall about to the shrine and you're done. Shinto has something right about this. The preparation matters is important vital event. To having a successful spiritual life. Too often in my life i've wanted to jump right into the water. So to speak. Without preparing myself for the swim. Maybe you have to. But it's not just not preparing that worries me there's another thing about this whole failure thing. I worry sometimes that i'm not prepared and i don't just mean about my my golf game. I'm a big fan of being prepared as i said probably dates back to my boy scout is. Their motto afterall is be prepared. The preparation only matters if you're preparing yourself for the right thing. My golf game would improve if i go work on my bowling skills. And that's where i first reading today strikes me. The rich young man provides us a cautionary tale. He's observed all the rules and laws done everything he thinks he's supposed to do to be a good person to earn eternal life. What must i do to inherit eternal life he asked jesus. I imagine him saying i keep kosher i honor my mother and father i pray i deserve all the commandments. I'm sure he helps old ladies across the street to. Turn up jesus says that's good. But there's just one more thing. Every time i read this i think. Uh-oh. Cuz i don't know a lot but i know that when jesus says there's just one more thing i need from you. It's not going to be easy. So i always imagined the young man bracing himself when jesus tells him there's just one more thing. And he's right to be concerned. Because that one thing jesus asked of him is the one thing he won't do. Give his wealth to the poor and come follow jesus. He goes away side. We can prepare all we want we can get a. Got a great job we can make big money we can buy a big house we can take big vacations get a nice car. Get all those trappings were told make a successful life. But i wonder if we're preparing to fail. By doing so. If we're not also caring for our neighbor and caring for our own spiritual life and caring for our world. Trying to make a world that's better for all people. Not just for ourselves. Are we being successful. Or are we merely succeeding at the wrong thing. Are we like the young man keeping all the commandments but not getting the real message. In the bible we never find out the end of the rich young man story there's no epilogue says he lived out the rest of his days with his wealth in a mansion watching his workers. Bring in the crops or whatever. I like to think it might have gone differently. I like to think he went home and thought about jesus's words. And he became more like. Warren buffett. Or bill gates perhaps. Billionaires who have made a pledge to give much of their wealth to charitable causes. That's what i like to think. But i don't know. I think that maybe. Just maybe we can prepare ourselves to be successes at making the world a better place. With the right goals. With plenty of failures from which to learn. And a healthy dose of determination we can be people who make a difference in the lives of all the people the world. I think that's going to happen. But it's not going to be easy. We will fail. We will be disappointed in our own work as ira glass tells us. But we must not let those failures tutor us from what we know we must do. The work of our faith. The work of loving our neighbor. The work of creating the world we dream about. May it be so and may all of us learn from our failures. As we go forth in this world.

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041003_Lyceum4_Near.mp3

No one did more to bring this today about our own jim sergeant are the morning. Last night. Where we were. Harvard square in the people's republic of cambridge for the unitarian universalist service committee and featuring. Calling near the energy generators at night. Read all the way to beacon hill. And they talked about the issue of gay marriage. All way to the washington and then across the country. Map culinary. Music. I will be doing. Is my great pleasure to welcome. Impossible. Led lights.. Acrimony. Car. Where where i am. Where you are. I'm driving down. Black people playing tonight. And i haven't started. Biting myself. Remember the civil rights movement. Grocery store. My mind how can we move. Someone wearing. Death and destruction. Committed. Umbrella corporation. Marshmallow on the floor of a grocery store. Call hubby mama. Whatever. Call alex walking down the street in new york city. I haven't. For not walking fast enough. Minecraft. Glokknine. Call singapore. Timer. River. Temple. Mikey. Call. Roar. Guarana. Heart. Sometimes. Possible. I don't understand why. Messenger. Holiday. San francisco. Supervisor. Mordheim pasadena more about our sexuality. What. Moving forward.

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20120408_easter_love_and_redemption__john_sermon.mp3

No after. 40 years in. Pulpit ministry. I can almost laugh about it. But every easter week i am reminded as i recently told christian. Abhow in gloriously my. Pulpit career began. 40 years ago. The year was 1970. The place. The venerable. First parish in lexington. Up the road. The big white church on the battle green behind the statue of the minuteman i was 22. A first-year divinity student. And the youth advisor there. John said the minister preach for us on palm sunday. I've never written the sermon before. So i stayed up. Most of the night. Pouring everything that i knew about religion and life into that sermon. I probably even succeed. Will never entirely know because i overlooked one little detail. That year daylight savings time begin that night. A roommate woke me up saying aren't you going to be late. It was pouring. Rain. And i have a little british-made car that was notorious for shorting out if. Terribly wet. And sure enough on fresh pond parkway. Headed out of cambridge i went through a puddle and it stopped. Dead. Refusing all efforts at resurrection. While i stood there. Water up to my ankles. Getting salt craving. For a good samaritan to stop and help. Cambridge pop. Came by. My car was blocking the road. So we help me push it to the side. And hearing my desperate story. Shook his head saying i should get in. And he drove me to the church. As i approached the vestibule it was already well about. And the minister had gone to the pulpit. To improvise a sermon. About how to years before dr. king had set his face toward memphis. 10 sure. Signaled him that i was there after all and he stopped. Called for. Another palm sunday him and the second oscar through a choir robe over my sodden frame since i look pathetic. And down the aisle i went. Splooge. Squish. Splooge. Probably the most inglorious entry into a pulpit. Ever. And then when i reached into my jacket pocket. For my manuscript. Handwritten. In ink. Vita legible pages wouldn't even come apart. So i too had the begin to improvise. There were however with my performance only three small problems. No real beginning. Clear middle. Or end. Until finally the minister put his hand on my shoulder. Called for the final hymn. Gave a benediction. And at the door. The first person to rush up to me. Was the woman serving that year as president of the congregation. Who looked me straight in the eye and then in heard the state drummond accent said. Chalk. You must preach for us. Again. I mean it. Which under the circumstances. Was far and away the kindest. And most loving. Honest thing. Anyone could have said. I told the story today because i think it illustrates one of the central themes. About passover. And easter. Redemption. Without which obviously i would not be standing here before you. Of course like every. Every religious holiday. And every concept. In religion. This one can be interpreted in ways that are either. Problematic and oppressive. Or humanizing and liberating. Meg barnhouse. In the story. The christian told certainly knows that so does my friend boston columnist to james carroll. If you read his column on monday of this week it was an insightful analysis of how all too often. The american mind. Has focused. This holiday season. And the whole concept of redemption. On atonement by blood sacrifice. The sacrificial lamb is the central figure of passover road gym. It's blood marks the lintels of the hebrews in egypt than the angel of death. Passes them over. The firstborn children of egypt. That are taken recall how abraham was willing to sacrifice. His own firstborn son isaac. But then godsend. Around. Replaceable. Later jesus is interpreted as the lamb of god. Kill the passover. Who reverses the fate of isaac by becoming the paschal lamb himself. His atoning blood. Giving all who call on him. The mark they need to be. Spared. You know this interpretation. The united states carol said having nearly died itself 150 years ago in a bloody civil war. Took all of this into its consciousness. Or even its unconscious. Abraham lincoln shot and killed on a good friday no less. Became. American history christ-like. Martyr. Only to be followed. In my own time by elders. And since then legions beloved sons and daughters. Carol reminded us have been offered. On the altars of america's wars. Despite the fact that several. Of the most recent have clearly been both unnecessary. And i'll just. Undercurrents tied to sacrificial atonement he said. Are far from the only cause of this quick american readiness. To shed blood. But they certainly help. They also affect other aspects of our public life i fear. From criminal justice. To the prevalence of guns. The death penalty while long since abolished in most. Advanced democracies. Remains sadly in use in many of our state's. Though some are rethinking. If only because of the sheer expense of the legal process. We incarcerate a far higher percentage of our population we americans. Even for nonviolent crime. Then any other democracy. Because of punitive attitude. One of tit-for-tat retribution. Prevails all-too-often. Over any hope of rehabilitation. Even here in supposedly liberal massachusetts. Did you know that over the last 40 years the rate at which we imprison people. Has gone up by an astonishing 8. Hundred. Percent. And so far from redeeming america from what many have called its original sin. Slavery and racism. These policies have fallen most heavily on people of color. So that the chances of a young man of color. Being incarcerated. In the united states. Are now three out of 10. Slavery. And legal segregation. May have gone. But many forms of neo racism. From the subtle to the deadly. All too clearly persist. My friend jesse jagger. Christian knows well. Recently told a story about himself. Prompted by the trayvon martin case. When he was 14 jesse in the buddy snuck out of the house. And the college town where they grew up. With some stolen beer. Drunk at. 3 in the morning behind a local grocery store they lit a stack of newspapers on fire. Members of a local neighborhood watch. Thought and called the police. Jesse and his buddy. Both middle-class and white. We're taking the juvenile court. Well they might have been. They were sentenced to eight weekends of cleaning up the parking lot. Where they set the fire. Because of that arrest which was jesse's third that year he admits. His folks were prompted to take him and his brother. To the local unitarian universalist church. And that changed his life. He spent years working with other youth. Try in the spirit of our tradition to see within them. The spark of the divine. Even when it was smothered by. Resistance. Callousness and fear. And after years of working with other youth he's now a husband and father himself. Employed as the executive director of uu mass action. The public policy and advocacy arm of our faith here in massachusetts. And on thursday at 11 a.m. you'll be speaking out and cold leading. O'reilly on the boston common along with the n-double-acp in the aclu and other groups. Did you know that there is now a stand-your-ground law. Pending before the legislature here in our commonwealth. Was american calvinism and the understanding of redemption outline by james carroll that i think once lived jeff scott fitzgerald famously to write that. In america quote there are no second acts. But if that were strictly true. Then i wouldn't be standing here with us. Norwood jessie. Be a public advocate. San jose. Father. And neither of us would be leaders. Bubba faith marked. We hope. More by love than by fear. Some would say we redeemed ourselves i don't believe it. I say the redemption had to begin beyond. It had to be grounded in grace. And then someone else's response. That was more loving than fearful. You see the universal side of our heritage challenge. The dominant theory. A predestined redemption for the few. By insisting that it just loving deity would never send any of god's children. To an embolus punishment. In an eternal hell. While the unitarian side of our heritage. Put far more emphasis on the loving religion of jesus. Then on the dogmatic religion about jesus. Honest teaching an example about forgiveness. And not on the heresy hunting. And hatred. All too often inflicted through history in his name. Jesus himself taught his disciples not even to worry about what they were going to eat and drink. Or where. But rather. Always to seek first what he called. The kingdom. Gatski. The commonwealth. A divine forgiveness and peace and righteousness. We're sisters and brothers. See one another. As fellow children of god. Still. Full of divine potential. Then everything else he said would be provided. In other words keep your eyes on the prize. Is dr. king. About the fulfillment of redemption is just around the corner or. Or at the end of the journey or the end of time or the end of history. But because it's already. Actually right here. Wherever love rules. Within. In between. And among human beings. Where love. Not fear. Is spoken here and now. You may recall that on the night before he was. Shot and killed in memphis. Dr. king was famously heard to preach that perhaps like moses he might not get. The promised land. With those he spoke to. But he said he had been to the mountaintop. And with his own eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the lord. And so he wasn't worried. Not about a thing. He'd seen. The presence. Human lost. With his own eyes. So am i. A few years ago. A dear friend one time. Colleague ministry forest church. Was dying of cancer at his home. In new york city. I went to see him. Did written. A beautiful book. Call love and death. My journey through the valley of the shadow. And we spoke of. How slow we human beings can be to relinquish the notion that we should be able to control events. Control other people. And not just local. And then for all the flaws in our friendship through the years. We said words of forgiveness to one another. Forest assured me that he was looking forward without fear. Backward without undue regret. Trying at his last. Moms. To simply. Live in love in the present. With his mantra. Dowhatyoucan. Want what you have. Be who you are. We left. About the vision of heaven. That's written at the very end of the bible of the book of revelation. In which there's no temple. The new jerusalem. Loprete. Rabbis. No preachers needed. No sermons. Notebooks to write. Got it last fall at all. And those clergy out of a job. At last. But while you're still here. For a set as we parted. Just keep doing what you can. Love alone. Is what triumph. Over death. So i would remind you my friends. That in this place we are all ministers. Every single one of us. Charged with going forth. To minister. In a hurting. And often oppressive world. With the kind of lives. Speak love. Not fear. Woodforest memorial service there were more than 2,000 people. Who came. The overflow from all souls. On the upper east side where we administered together. Had to go to the synagogue around the corner and watch it on. Closed circuit tv. The last anthem that was sung by the choir was the one that we had. Both agreed was our favor. When the all souls choir sang it. One that i want song at the very end of my days. For its universalist vision. Its vision of a world in which we clergy are finally superfluous. Its vision of redemption not by violence. Nearby sacrifice. But only by the realization. Incarnated and embodied in mortals. Fallible human beings like ourselves. Apple of the camby. Let's sing it now together. Hazard final him. It's immaterial hymnals number 1046.

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20121007_indians_discovered_colombus_crane_sermon.mp3

Wherever you are is home. Wherever you set. Your feet is holy ground. My question to you this morning is is this home. Is this our holy land. This earth this earth beneath the foundation of this meeting house. And where is your home. That is. Where do you put your feet on holy ground is it in north america and united states. In massachusetts in needham or nearby. I had this question about home. And living in it and on it. In my mind and so i went to the town of needham's. Website. And clicked on the section name history. Which begins with these words. In the 1640s development began. When the colonists explored the area. They made their living as farmers although farming in needham wasn't always easy. The familiar english crop wheat. Barley rye. Could not thrive and needham's poor soils. Even indian corn had limited success. 1681 the needham land was purchased from tribal leader william neal holden. Boyden. Nehi aiden. I knew you'd know how to tell me how to pronounce that william nehi aiden. 410 lb in cash. 40 shillings worth of corn. And 50 acres of land at. In newton at hemlock gorge. Be used for hunting and fishing. Okay well as i did this morning earlier i'm asking you to turn the story upside down. Focus sonic from the native peoples perspective. Sometime before 1640. When the local indians saw strangers arrive. And struggle to live off their land. Whose home was it then. Was it home to the knahaten people or to the natick indians who had settled here i don't know i'm sure many of you do. But whoever it was. Whoever the earlier human dwellers were on this land they were most likely part of the wampanoags people. Live lived along the river we call the charles. 40 years later by the time their chief made that deal with the town selectmen. One source reports that there were no more than 500 indian. What i don't know is whether that was more. Or fewer indian. They were here in the 1640. When the english began to arrive. And then the question becomes. Did those who had dwelled here before. Convert to christianity. Certainly that's the story we've been told. But now i have to wonder if they were. Force either willingly. Or not. To convert. I wonder to whether they were segregated and confined by the english in what they called. The english called. Praying villages. That was something that was done throughout the massachusetts. Bay colony. Bring those native peoples who had converted. And isolation in a praying village. Presumably. And it's only a presumption. Those who did not. Convert to christianity or forced. 2. Leave or were killed. And naturally i am obliged to acknowledge here in this meeting house. That those english. Colonist english puritans. Who settled here these lands in 16 in the 1640s. For the bringers of the form of christianity. That was in many cases forced upon those earlier settlers. And i am. Obliged to acknowledge that one strand of that. Christianity. Has evolved in what we call today unitarian-universalism. Wherever you are is home. Wherever you set. Your feet. Is holy ground. You don't live off at like a parasite. You live in it. And it. In you. So i ask again who's. Home. Is this. Bland. We recognized that it was first settled by the wampanoags. We know now that for them it was indeed holy ground. But most of us. Most of us. Are descendants of european immigrants. And we too have come to think of this as our home. We live in it and it in us. So the more relevant question for me is this. How can all of us survive and thrive together on this holy land. We can't undo past mistakes. But what can we do. This morning's chalice lighting urges us to weave new patterns of truth and justice. Are opening him reminds us and we do need regular reminding that what touches one. Touches all. The way we build our attitude. We build a bridge. 4-wall. Our hearts must hear a different call. So i think of the walls were building today. A wall that separates israel. Walling out palestinian people and confining the so-called settlers. To their own version of praying villages. I think of the wall. Sometimes a real wall sometimes. Just. A wall of intolerance. I think of the wall along the mexican us border. And how the united states is trying to wall out. People who seek freedom. Self-sufficiency and safety for themselves and their children. They're these are after all. The very same aspirations my great-grandparents had when they came here from german. And they're the same aspirations as the ones. Brought to this country as infants and toddlers. Who are stillwold out from all of the privileges granted by the only country. They have ever known. The same one who is younger brothers and sisters. We're automatically granted us citizenship. Because they happen to be born on the right side of the wall. And how is it. That we can carve emma lazarus has words in stone. And then wall out the very people we say we welcome. Give me your tired. You're poor. You are huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these. The tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp. Beside the golden door. What can we do. How do we open our minds and hearts to a different call. And act on it. Well the faithkeeper of the turtle clan offered one suggestion and many unitarian universalist has seized the opportunity to educate ourselves about this doctrine and our neighbors who are descendants of native people. And who are themselves native people. We need to know the history and the impact of a fifteenth-century doctrine. That justifies centuries of mistreatment. And has been codified in national and international law. We need to know how it affects our massachusetts wampanoags neighbors even today. And we need to know how or perhaps whether it justifies our military intervention and continuing presence in countries like iraq and afghanistan. We need to understand. That it is not only codified in our law. But in our national story. And in our personal perspectives. It is codified in the story that gives. Most working people of three day weekend. Right now. We need to recognize the inherent racism in the charge that one candidate seeking election to the united states senate in massachusetts. Is considered dishonest because she has no. Documentation of her native american heritage. Because she doesn't look. Native american. We need to repudiate the appropriation of native american symbols for our athletic teams for example. And understand that war whoops and tomahawk chop are never. Never. Good-natured. Commentary. I'll close with one man story about this most recent. Incident. In dorchester. I read it and you probably did too and kevin collins column and then boston globe on september 30th. So many of my words are taken from his column. It seems that sir bruce oaks bruce oak is a regular at the eyrie pub in dorchester. And he was there that night but he'd already left. Just before the now-famous incident. I probably missed it by 5 minutes says. Just as well he continues because i would have done something. I would have done something. Bruce alex is 61. He grew up on the aquasani reservation that straddles the new york and canadian border. His dad left school after third grade to become an ironworker and his mother left school after 5th grade. And work for general motors. Bruce. Was among a small group of native americans to enter dartmouth college in 1970. At one of the first football games he attended. He was booed for protesting dartmouth name. For athletic team. I happened to be there at the time. Not at the football game. But in hanover. Where dartmouth college is located. And i read daily. Of the issue over the indian symbol. Used for their athletic team. In 1974 by the way the college trustees band the indian name and the indian symbol. And some alumni are still really angry about that. Now back to bruce oaks story. He's pissed. He's pissed when people suggest that native americans are too sensitive to stuff like that. He says most of us. I guess he means people like me most of us don't have a clue what it's like to be native american in this in this america. You can make all the jokes you want about casinos and reparations he says native americans got a raw deal. And he has. No doubt. That elizabeth warren has some cherokee blood. Many people from oklahoma do. And he has no idea whether her claims that she used this. To gain advantage in her academic career are true. He does think that she made a mistake in refusing to meet native american activist at the democratic national convention. But it doesn't matter he says i'm not voting. I don't. I never have. I'd be a hypocrite if i voted. He thought about law school but. He couldn't take an oath to the constitution. And on the other hand he believes that native americans should serve in the us military. The issues are complex. For everyone. For native americans. For the rest of us. The issues are complex. But bruce makes this point. There are five hundred tribes he explains and there are five hundred languages and dialects. There are differences of opinions on all things. We don't judge. He says. But don't tell me i shouldn't be offended. By ignorance. Stereotype. In the end. Oaks doesn't really care who wins the senate race. He just hopes that whoever wins. Is appointed to the senate committee on indian affairs. There's been plenty of talk about indians in the campaign he says. Now let. Let us see them do something to help. India. Do for me. And i hope you'll think about what it is for you. For me it all comes down to this. Heed the call of your heart. Don't judge yourself. Or others. It's a waste of time in my opinion instead do something to learn. Do something to help. Pay attention to the stories and the dreams and the thoughts of those who have no. Voice. Talk less and listen more. Bear witness. Advocate for. Open up your arms and your heart to those who drink the cup of suffering. And begin to understand this. On a visceral level. What touches one. Affects us all. It is in our power to breathe the winds of change. And to plant the seeds of hope. We all. Live. In this land and this land lives in us. And tomorrow. Is germinating. In today.

uuneedham_org

20121223_dark_of_winter_katie_lee_sermon.mp3

So you can remember back to friday morning where you were. At 6:14 a.m.. Was anybody up somebody was sleeping. Yeah i was i was just getting up. I was just getting up but you know i mean that's my regular time and for some of you clearly that is or even before that is your regular time but why do you think. That i would bring up here today. Friday. At 6:14 a.m. any ideas. Solstice it was the exact moment in this time zone. For the winter solstice. Which for those of us who live north of the equator means that. It's the shortest day. And the longest night. So as a lot of you know the ancient ancient peoples before christianity. Figure this out. This amazes me you know they didn't have scientific instruments but they had the power of observation and they watched patterns repeat themselves over and over again and they saw those patterns something. That. Repeated itself over time and they decided. Bethel. Earth was like a wheel. With spokes. And every time the wheel turned. A little bit. The season changed. And so there were the two solstices winter and summer. There was a two equinoxes spring and fall and there were the four cross-quarter days. And that's how they marked time. Well like me who doesn't particularly like dark. They were very anxious that this pattern repeat itself every year. And so what they did was. On the night of the winter solstice which they could predict. They did tons of crazy loud noisy nutty things. In order that if they could lure back the sun make it come back the next morning. So who knows what are some of the crazy wild things they did just shout i'm out. They danced. They had bonfires all night they said. They drums add parade. They dressed up like fools and they dressed up like animals and they put when they dance they put bells on and dance with sticks and swords so they could make even more noise. Have any of you been to our service of revels and cambridge. Yeah. So you see a version of that a later version of that. In the revels so you know it was like fires all night making noise with sticks and animals dressing up like like just really crazy. For me the winter solstice is really a very important turning point in the year because i do like the light. And i do like looking forward to the wheel turning and the seeds beginning to incubate and then break open in the spring. So i brought a solstice poem this morning. That i'd like to read as a kind of solstice prayer. The wheel turns. Winter is upon us. Darkness triumph. We watch and wait. We dance we sing we make mary. We wake up the sun. Come dawn. Bring hope. And promise. Come light. Bring our. Power from within. Power to heal. Power to change. Power to renew. Tom light. Bring life. May it be so this year i said has been for centuries and centuries. In a season where we tell the story of a mother with child. Weeeek. To remember the countless. Stories of mothers without a child. In newtown connecticut. Into many homes and neighborhoods like bowdoin-geneva and dorchester. I think of mothers in neonatal unit send. Mothers whose adult daughters and sons left before their time. I think of mothers like. Nancy lanza whose child needed help. And so did she. Women who asked to be mothers. And could not conceive. For them and for so many others. This is not always an easy time of year. In a season when we tell the story of a mother with child. We also must remember. Mothers. Without a child. This is how it is for me. I struggle to find spiritual integrity. In a season of holidays that have been co-opted by commercialism. I dislike the noise of it all. The loud and unnatural light and the can. An unceasing music. Though as i was writing this i realized i guess you could say that all from the winter solstice customs thousands of years ago. Maybe that would help me accept it. But i'm insulted by the crass insinuation that material goods are the only good gifts. And that more expensive equals more love. This is how it is for me. Right now i know people who are dying. And others who recently lost loved one. I love people who are depressed and ill. I know people who are financially struggling and emotionally struggling. People who are broken hearted. And broken spirited. People who are alone and lonely. And i know. What it feels like to live in that place. During this season. And yes i even know people perhaps you do too. For home christmas or hanukkah or kwanzaa or soul sister any of the number of permutations we celebrate at this time of year old little. Meaning. More than one parishioner over the years as told me. Look. You won't see me i go into hibernation until january. Personally i find it hard to reconcile a barrage of pre-packaged goodwill. With the world i live in. A world where there is. Unspeakable violence. Often promulgated in the name of religion. A world where we were among the most privileged on earth. Cannot seem to find adequate funds. Fast food. Education. And healthcare. Our children for elders. And for those among us who are vulnerable and voiceless. A world in which an almost child himself gets out murder every child in an elementary school and painfully succeeds in killing 20 of them. I find it painful to spend money on consumable items wrapped in the most earth unfriendly packaging imaginable. Only to have it carelessly thrown away. Where it will pollute all over again. But you know i'm not a grinch. I really am not a grinch. Goodwill is good. Gifts are fun. And for me does this season holds deep religious and cultural significance. But every year i wage my own personal campaign 2. For this season to be about that. You know. Religious and cultural values called love. And hope. And peace. Justice. I don't really think these values necessarily come packaged in plastic. What can be purchased with plastic. So today i offer. Winter solace. I suggest we look at the natural rhythms of the season like our ancient ancestors did. And instead of trying to subvert the darkness. Consider embracing it. Darkness often gets a bad rap. One thinks first perhaps of nothingness or. Of terror. Or of imprisonment. But. They might even think of the darkness of the tomb. Or the darkness of death. These are real. But they're not the only way to think about darkness. Consider instead. The darkness of the womb. Warm. Nourishing. Sustaining. Here the darkness is pregnant. It holds the promise of new life. The room is a place of waiting. Of stillness. Of essences. It's a cradle of possibility and hope. But don't let me make the error. Of. Equating this kind of darkness. To something sinful. Because the womb is a risky place. There are no guarantees no certainties. No absolute assurances that life will try on. One poet reminds us. That every birth. Is an act of dangerous hope. The cord which nourishes can also choke. The body would shelters. Can also poison. It's a tempestuous journey subject to countless perils. The public reminds us. So don't let me make this kind of darkness sounds simple in the way that the holiday ads make peace and goodwill found simple. These things are not simple. At the very least let me acknowledge that this like darkness is a not so comfortable. Place. Of not knowing. Will the baby be healthy. Will i ever feel better again. Or walk again or work again. Will good ever come from the pain and discomfort i'm feeling now. This kind of darkness is a place for waiting. It's a kind of dormancy a time of expectancy. Incubation. Like the seed in winter. Waiting on fiat cautiously and sometimes even anxiously. But waiting nonetheless with anticipation. And when were lucky. With a sense of a growing presence. Is it even possible to dwell in this kind of womb like darkness. In a productivity crazed fiber dominated global community. And if it is. What can we do to make it so. I can only tell you what i have to do. I have to find the stillness. Well however uncomfortably in the silence and the not knowing. And then stay there. And just. Wait. Anyone who practices contemplatively prayer or comes. Or some form of meditation. Will tell you just how hard this is. It is. A demanding spiritual practice. As writer janet morley says in her books her book all desires known. The only terror greater than having nothing to say. Is the terror. Of needing to say. Nothing. The only. Terror. Greater than having nothing to say. Is the terror. Of needing. To say. Nothing. Because that's a complete surrender to the unknown a letting go of all that we used to protect. And defend ourselves. It's opening ourselves with absolute vulnerability. Where we might find. Almost anything. Somewhere i read in our. I read this. In our cultural context. To wait expectancy expectantly is spiritual audacity. It's the gospel of foolishness. That opens us up to see the vibrant mysterious ground of hope. Even in the midst of great suffering. I love that. Spiritual podcast. The gospel of foolishness that opens us up to see this. Vibrant mysterious ground of hope. Even in the midst of great suffering. Are we willing or able. To follow this gospel. To incubate. Hope. In the midst. Of suffering. For me this is the question. This season in particular. So as the familiar. Carol's at times like these we seek. Comfort and joy. With carol's and singing and greens and gratitude. We attempt to bring something like high summer into our lives in the bleak midwinter. A remnant of those ancient solstice practices. Call it a respite or an escape or. Call it as margaret starkey does. Blasted madness. There is that something in each of us. That reaches for the light. Something that. Invites us to seek solace. In the dark. Christmas rahilly matters to me. Not all the trappings. I ignore the police to shop and spend i reject those sappy unrealistic portraits of perfect families around a tree. My family is not perfect. My tree is not perfect. We do not roast chestnuts or skate on frozen ponds or prey piously. But that's not christmas to me. What matters to me is what for me the real meaning of christmas. As a child christmas was a holy day. Manchester holiday. In my home we waited expectantly for the birth of a child who would change the world. So. I took. That story literal literally when i was a child. There was no room at the end a baby was born in the barn the baby was jesus angels and shepherds came and even kings brought presents. As an adult. I understand the story metaphorically. The baby. Any baby. Is the hope of the world. This table shows that miracles happen in the most. Unlikely places. The shepherds in the king's remind us that we humans are important regardless of our wealth or our job regardless of where we live or what we wear. So even as my own theological views have changed and evolved. I still see this as a holy time. I see it as a story built upon more ancient pre-christian traditions. One that invite us to reflect. On the meanings of darkness and light. Of hope and expectation. And yes. One that offers comfort. And joy. And this year i need comfort and joy. And i'm guessing many of you do too. We're bombarded with news of violence around the world. The threat of tumbling over a fiscal cliff and more political posturing at home. When people are hungry and homeless and lost. We must somehow reconcile the unspeakable losses in connecticut. And the deeply personal losses in this congregation. At a time when we're programmed to be merry. And in the face of all that. We do need comfort and joy. And we need to remember what is really important. Our connections to the ones we love. I believe we need to be quiet from time to time and remember the many touching stories of human kindness and compassion. Stories we've seen and read about almost daily. And we need to be less afraid to cry. And less afraid to admit we hurt. And more eager to say. I love. It's a funny thing how it works when tragedy strikes we find comfort in traditions we may have rejected. Or analyzed for ignored for years. And now perhaps you feel called back. Called back in a way it was when you were a child. Call back with less judgement. With more acceptance. Not unquestioning acceptance. But acceptance in an entirely new way. Because now even though your rational mind. Cannot accept the story as fact. Perhaps. Perhaps your heart. Can accept the myth. Meaningful. The question this morning is not so much about christmas itself. It is. About what brings you comfort. Enjoy. In the face of so much that hurts. Is it ritual. Is it tradition music. Candles. Revelry. Is it safe. For hope. Generosity. Margaret starkey says we make a holiday with rituals as varied. Has the hopes of humanity. I have a friend who'd lost all her family though she has a large and loving circle of friends. For her christmas is a lonely and difficult time. She always has multiple offers to join other peoples celebrations. But she always decline. With love. Instead she makes her own holiday. Cheap what's up with tree with a such a profusion of teddy bears under it it's as if it's a teddy bear village. That has moved into her tiny apartment. And every bear has a story. And many of them go back to when she was a girl. She loves every bear and every ornament. And she never hesitates to pull out all the stops. And then she makes two dozen pumpkin chiffon pie for rosie's place. And on christmas day spends the day they're serving a holiday meal to homeless people. She would still acknowledge that. There's still that a. That loneliness on christmas morning. But she would also tell you. That she wouldn't give up her tradition for anything. She has made a holiday for herself. And tired at the end of a long hard day she comes home and tells the bears how fortunate they are. To have had such happy memories. So many blessing. Purses not a perfect christmas. Hers is a real. Christmas. Think about the stuff of your holiday. For me it's more about holy than holly. I've come to see that i can mind the messages of darkness and light. And renewal. Death and rebirth. Miracle and meaning. And every year i find things there i never found before. Things that feed my soul. Things that bring me comfort. And joy. So this year in the face of so much loss and in the faces of the babes who are lost. I am. Rediscovering the spirit of the child within me. The childhood trust. The child who imagined from sings the child who receives without reservation and who gives without judgment. This year. I too am a child. A child who is not afraid to need. And a child who's not afraid to love. This year. I remember again as if for the first time. That all dave's are the hope of the world. And that miracles can be found. In the most. Unlikely places. Like christmas,. Let life and love and hope. Be born again.

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20130331_0192_easter_who_is%20Jesus_katie_lee.mp3

As a child. I was taught that jesus was the son of god. That god in fact has sent his son to teach the people on earth how to love god. And how to love each other. And so jesus was born a boy who grew into a man and as we know died tragically young. Someone years and years before had predicted that god would send a messiah a savior to the jewish people. And after jesus died people came to believe that jesus was that savior and they called him the messiah. They also believe that after jesus died he rose up into heaven where he became god. For christians the easter story is about the end of jesus's life especially the part. Where he died and then seem to come back to life. Before rejoining god and heaven. As a girl. I really didn't learn very many stories about jesus's life. I went to math. We said prayers in latin. When i was a girl and later in english. We went to communion and got a little wafer on our tongues to remind us of what happened at the last supper. But it wasn't until i grew up. That i came to learn and love. The many stories about jesus's slice something like you christian. In his short life jesus did amazing things. He challenged people in power because often they were being selfish and cruel. And just so they could have money and power for themselves. And he ignored stupid rule. Some of his best friends and followers were women. And that was against the rules. He was kind to people. All kinds of people. Like the samaritan tax collector and people who were lame and sick. Now today that might not seem so unusual but in jesus's world. To touch a leper. To eat at the same table or even in the same room with a woman. Or to speak up against those in power and dare to say that what they were doing was wrong. Well that was against the rules. Big time. What jesus dared to do. Simply. 2. Be in the world and love people and teach us to love one another. Well now. I have read and studied the stories of jesus's life. And i consider him to be one of my greatest teachers. This morning i'll mention just three things i learned from the jesus stories that have been become part of what i believe. How i minister and frankly. Who i am or at least try to be. The first lesson is to love one another. Now jesus isn't the first person ever to teach this lesson. But anyone who tries to live this knows it can be really hard. First of all jesus doesn't mean we should love each other and huggy kissy way. There are people jesus really didn't like. But he wanted to honor what he believed was that of god in every person. The stories about jesus's life have taught me that i don't have to like what people think or what they do. In fact. If i don't like something. I can protest it. And work to change it. But i still have to remember. And this is the really hard part. To love courageously enough. To believe that all people are worthy of love. And as unitarian universalist this is our first principle. To believe that every person is important and valuable. So that even when people do bad things. We have to remember. That they were born. With inherent worth. Indignity. Another thing jesus did that i love is bring people together. In his world as i mentioned the poor couldn't be friends with the rich. And the able-bodied people couldn't talk to those who couldn't see or hear or walk. This kind of person couldn't talk to that kind of person you were all kinds of crazy rules. I have come to believe. That the real miracles. That jesus performed. We're in teaching us that everybody everybody belongs in beloved community. It wasn't that he drew a circle to keep some people out. He drew a great big circle and invited everybody in. I guess the thing that i do most often because of what jesus. Taught. Is the speak out when i think things are unfair. Things that hurt people are the environments on purpose. Things that greedy people do so they have more for themselves. In jesus famous sermon he said. Blessed are those who mourn. Now you might think that what he meant was. The ghost who are sad or grieving deserve a blessing. That's not actually what it means. What jesus meant meant to say. In words we could understand today might sound something like this. Congratulations to those who protest in the presence of injustice and social evil. And when you said blessed are the pure of heart. He wasn't talking about people who army corps week. He meant something like this. Blessed are the people of conscience. And when he said blessed are the peacemakers. Jesus was talking about people who could do whatever they would. To make life meaningful and good for everyone. Who do i say that jesus is. One of my greatest teachers. A role model. And a source of inspiration.

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20110501_freedom_and_equality_John_sermon.mp3

Mayday. The 1st of may. Won bin. A contentious. Observe. Observance in our culture. Back in pre-christian europe this was belting. A pagan holiday. That mark the end of winter. And the planting season. To be celebrated complete with maypole. Dances. And generally free cavorting. St. andrews university in scotland where. Prince william and his. Bride with her unitarian heritage. Firstmet. Students party on the beach. On the night of april 30th and then it's sunrise rush into the north sea. Often naked. Asked whether the royal couple had ever taken part buckingham palace nearly lifted its nose. Even if you're in new england made a stood for freedom. The year that this building was built. In 1837. Nathaniel hawthorne publish the story called the maypole of merry mount. About an event two centuries before. When a group of young renegades from puritanism brewed some beer. And then celebrated a marriage. By dancing around the maypole. Until stop. By the stern governor. And the clergy. But then in the age of industrialization the first of may was claimed by workers. For the cause of equality. And workers rights. Shortly after this meeting house was moved to where it's it's today became international workers day. And a memorial for the unarmed strikers. Who were killed by police. For peacefully protesting in chicago haymarket. The police were never brought to trial the labor activists were. Not for their actions. But for having. Such dreams of equality. Four were hanged. Is anarchist. The catholic church tried to overcome communist claims. On the 1st of may. By proclaiming it the feast of st joseph the worker. During the height of the cold war. When freedom and equality were perhaps most contentious on the planet. The great jewish philosopher martin buber spoke at a united nations conference held in rome. And told a parable. That has always haunted me. It is grounded in history. Beginning. At the start of the modern age at the time of the american and then the french revolutions. The three ideals of modernity were said to walk hand-in-hand. Liberty. Equality. And what the french call chipettes hasn't it. Which might be more inclusive lee translated into english is say kinship. The idea. Of a deeper sisterhood and brotherhood. That we all belong to children of one great mystery. And then something happened. Through revolutions in the east and west. The three became divided. Liberty seemed to come west. First here to america. And it changed its character. It became all too often near freedom from. Freedom from taxes freedom from government. Freedom to do just as i please. Including keep slaves. Exploit others the land. Meanwhile equality went east. To russia. The china. It became the equality of the gulag. The equality of masses. All waving one little red book. And meanwhile. The most religious partner that. Trinity. The spiritual sense of human kinship seem to go into hiding. Largely rejected by both secular individualist. And by collectivist alike. Even in their pseudo-religious ocity. And yet said bruber rather prophetically wherever. And whenever people try to unite the separated. Or to reconcile the claims of human freedom and equality. They will have to find again some deeper spiritual sense. Of human kinship. Often hidden in plain sight in the spirituality of oppressed people. Who have been denied both. Equality and freedom. And haven't we seen that. Among african-americans here in our own land. Singing. The great songs. Grounded the spirituality of their own experience. Seeking human rights. Haven't we seen it among polish catholics and others. In the solidarity movement that rose up against communism. Trying to find some greater. Respect for human. Liberty and the true dignity of labor. Haven't we seen it in chinese students in tiananmen square. Nelson mandela bishop tutu in south africa. And now in the secular yet spiritually grounded. Arab spring rising in the muslim world. Mind you there are plenty of video logs on the right and the left. Who will tell you that it is inconsistent to be both spiritual and secular. Or even to try to want to reconcile. Equality and freedom. Freedom at least of opportunity. Orthodox leftists will disparage spirituality. Religion is the opiate of the masses even when often that spirituality causes the masses to rise. To take non-violent risks. For greater social justice. And wingnuts on the right will be glad like glenn beck to tell you that if your church talks about equality or safe social justice you should get up and leave immediately. Because it must be a socialist organization. A slur that is now thrown at anyone with any concern. For equality even of opportunity. The good news. About equality in our world by the way is that at least between. Nations and peoples. It has actually in recent decades been increasing. At a pace we sometimes forget. Because of greater economic freedom. Some nations that were formerly. Known. Chiefly for keeping everyone in poverty. Have in recent decades open themselves up to development trade investment and pulled hundreds of millions. Out of abject poverty into a growing global middle class. Just think. Of china and india. But what is happening within nations all around the world. Is quite the opposite. The rising tide is lifting more yachts than boats. Even. In hong kong harbor. And often at the cost of a sustainable environment. For future generations. In their book spirit level. Why greater equality. Make society stronger. Cheap ticket and richard wilkinson show statistically. But societies that breed excessive economic inequality also breathe. Social problems. An unregulated casino economedes dominated by derivatives and by the bernie madoff so the world undercuts. Social trust. People. Treat one another. With suspicion. And their society. They are the government. With suspicion. The collapse of unionized work and social safety nets produces. Metal health issues. Increased drug use. And where economically inequality increases life and health health and life inspect and see decrease. We are not immune to this. The life expectancy in shanghai. Is now greater than it is in the united states. Educational performance. Declines with. Economic inequality. Is jonah sarah the business reporter now writing a column in the new york times. Climb just this week. No matter what we do in the schools. If our society is failing by leaving so many in abject. Despair. Then what do we expect. Obesity increases teenage births go up. Violence has respect where economic inequality increases. Imprisonment and punishment flourish. Social mobility suffers. And yet today within the most privileged and nominally democratic societies and not just our own. The dominant ideologies in idolatry freedom. Vilifying. Even patient and moderate concerns. For more equality. And spiritual leaders wanting to try to level the playing field. Let me give you just one example before asking why is this. I don't recommend the film. But consider atlas shrugged. The recently-released movie based on iran's 1957 novel. Even conservative columnist kathy young recently wrote the rand gives libertarianism a bad rep. She despises all forms of altruism. All forms not only of religion. But even if concern for others only neo nietzschean self-assertion can save. Is young says rand quote consistent and viciously demonizes the people and ideas she disagrees with reducing them to grotesque caricatures. And easily shredded strongman. I don't want to do the same to her. But i must say that ideas of self-assertion like that. Perpetually appeal. To the oppressed. Feeling and the adolescents. Wanting to break free. And just go to marymount. And that included iron rand. You know that she was born in russia not america. And she that she was most. She was almost the epitome of reactionary. And reacting to russia's violent collectivism. Yet what she. Advocated and called objectivism. Was objectively a rather simplistic and equally destructive and even violent form. Of individualistic capitalism. Too often bladder plays well with those who feel most vulnerable. And are led covertly or overtly to attribute all power to a vast conspiracy. On the right. A conspiracy scene is bureaucratic and socialist. On the left. As all dominated by billionaires. Fox news in corporate money. Sometimes. As today. In the minds of some the two. Senses of being disempowered even mel. We may have right-wing populism in america dominating right now. But i suspect my friends that if we keep going this way. We will have unthinking left-wing populism soon enough. Just now the idolatry of freedom. But coming. I can virtually predict. Adam and perhaps back in the streets. For equality. Consider. Alan greenspan the former head of the federal reserve a longtime disciple of iron rind. And the so-called objectivism recently explaining that the reason he didn't intervene more strongly against the growing bubble in mortgage-backed derivatives. And derivative back the river dave's. Is that there was no room in his model. For bernie madoff sandbanks would be piling up bluffs on top of bluffs. Avoiding reality. And yet objectively. Rationally in economically terms. Why not. Isn't it just a matter of seeking maximum return-on-capital no matter what it does to social trust isn't that what all our capital seats. Horse. Is boulder camp be nor should there be. Any transcendent arbiter of truth. Or equity. In a rational global marketplace. Because any arbiter might be well arbitrary and yet. Here on earth my friends is jfk once said in the speech a unitarian advisor helped him write. Here on earth god's work must truly be our own. We probably do need to formulate arbitration. Between free flows of capital. And equity. And honesty. And trust. Even using those despised mechanisms called regulation. And god forbid redistributive cat taxation. Oh i know there i go. A socialist on behalf of an unseen global god. You didn't agree with me. But i'm here to suggest that whether we believe. We're not in godus traditionally defined. My faltering efforts to make you think more deeply more spiritually more ethically. Involve making you also think about the interaction. Freedom inequality. Ask but you begin to define yourself. For yourself what a god caring for the common good might look like. But globally. And here on earth. And in our own nation. And then to work locally and whatever way falls within your powers on behalf. A restoring some sense of ultimate kinship. Sisterhood brotherhood. A common striving to reconcile. The journey for individual freedom. With respect for the spiritual equality. That we really should see in one another. As i prayed earlier there are too many children. Here near us. Much less far from us. Who don't yet have much of a chance to unfold their god-given potential within. Because gross material inequality has gotten in the way of their inherent. Spiritual freedom. I'm so here in this community though we come together from varied backgrounds and look at life in different ways and some have more material power than others. Students. Teachers investors workers. Consultants and vendors cooks caregivers candlestick makers. Fellow congregants. It is important that we come together week-by-week and look one another in the eye. And see sisters and brothers. Of a mystery and a purpose that is greater than ourselves. Grateful for having found a community of true spiritual freedom. But also among challenging equals. With whom we covenant to try to discern the human yet transcendent path forward to. Raising our own children we pray to strive to be wiser than our generation. I sometimes think we are now fighting the cold war all over again. But now here at home. Wiser than our own generation. And trying to reunite. And reconcile. Freedom inequality. Perhaps it can only be done. By bringing out. From hidden deep in every human heart. That sense that we are kid. That we are all related. But the freedom. Of another. Involves the wise use. Of the freedom you and i enjoy. So it is in all good family. So maybe among. Spiritual kit. A wider family of the world.

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20121125_fortune_cookie_christian.mp3

This is a point-of-service rap and come down and tell his story doing things a little differently today i have a a beautiful reflection from a colleague of mine in mcfarren house. I'm going to read it because her words are better than mine. If i owned a fortune cookie company. Here's what i put in the cookies. Some people pick their favorite chinese restaurants by the bourbon chicken. But in my family we do it by the fortune cookies. The other night we tried a new place the food was fine the service was lovely but when i broke apart the cookie after the meal i read. Where there's a will there's a way. Where there's a will there's a way that is a lame fortune. Why not too many cooks spoil the broth or a stitch in time saves nine. If they're going to call it a fortune. I should at least get the promise of a thrilling time to come or a journey with unforeseen results. So if i owned a fortune cookie company. I would make the fortunes evocative something to excite the imagination. Shine a light on new possibilities people's perspectives would shift after their meal. I might put in something like. You will see three beautiful things tomorrow. Then the whole next day the person have their eyes open looking for beauty. They would ask themselves what is beauty. Is that tree the beautiful thing. Is my spouse the beautiful thing. This hand of mine. The glimpse of my miraculous i and the rearview mirror that enables such beauties to pour into my heart. Or maybe i would write. 7 people love you madly. What would you make your next several days. You would look at each of your friends with a secret smile. Are you one of them. I knew you liked me fine. But do you love me madly. How about this one. You will figure something out 2 days from now. Or. They appreciate what you did. Why not. People certainly get slipped off a little messages in an oculus forms. A partner says you don't get it. Or you're just like your father. We receive messages from bosses parents friends and from that venomous voice inside that knows all about us. And doesn't think much of any of it. Why not interrupt the spread of discouragement and dismissal with a tidbit for the soul after a chinese meal. I would love to get a fortune that says. Don't try to improve yourself tomorrow. What would it do to your perspective if you read. The next two years are just for fun. So here's what i'm going to do. I'm going to write these down just for myself and keep them in a bowl by the bed. I'll draw one out every morning and see what happens to my eyes to my ears. To my heart and my spirit. Maybe i will pass them around at parties. Join me and together we can whisper peachy little perspective shifters into one another's days. I'm looking forward to the twinkle in your eye. And thus ends the words of meg barnhouse but not the fun. Because. I took the time to get custom-made fortune cookies with fortunes i lights. I'll take a minute. Share your fortunes with each other i'm going to have mine right now. Mine is. You will make two brilliant decisions this week. Way above my usual batting average so.

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20120701_seth_robinson_enough_sermon.mp3

In the quiet. Only the pleasant slapping of the ocean against the shore was heard. And night long. The ocean gently smooth. The sand again. With those words the end of the parable i. Close the book just as i did this morning. And i looked around the room at the group of teenagers are raising a circle of cushions and bean bag chairs. I have fought the buddhist story castles of sand would make a good opener. For this meeting of the senior high. At the unitarian universalist church where i work. As a youth coordinator. What work is an open all right. It opened a can of worms. During her turn in the round-robin check-in time the young women. Daughter of an architect i believe. By the way. Smashing other people's sandcastles really isn't cool. The force to decide whose castles the best. Have a contest. They've got to be some standards who could use and judge which child deserves the honor of best castle. A brief tangent ensued. A couple of years over here began debating best practices of sandcastle construction. Before young man said really sweet sandcastle. I pick out my iphone and i'd snap a picture before i had to leave the beach. That way i could always look back on it saying. Yep. I did that. Moorside conversation erupted about the wisdom of storing ones iphone. I rather reserved ninth-grader. Piped up and i. Gave him the floor. Referring to the inevitable leveling a random sandcastles by the incoming tide. He asked. Without a hint of sarcasm myju. Is the story the source of the saying it's not the size that matters it's the motion of the ocean that counts. You can only imagine the detour that followed bat. Hats off to the teachers of the our whole lives sex education curriculum because. Before i could bring the room to order. The factual assertion or two i did hear. Reflected a very. Well-informed understanding of human anatomy. I begin with the story because the youth who spoke during that meeting. It was straight so athlete. The range of responses we may well have. When faced with this challenging parable. Timmy castles of sand is a parable about. What it means for person. To be worthy. And a spec from others. What must we do how must we be. To be justified. In this life to be right with the universe to be whole. In this life. In other words. What is a take that have that elusive quality. We sometimes call. Being. Enough. Concerns about enough miss have a way of dogging us wherever we go and whatever we do. These are the warriors that are old our self-esteem. That leave us continually discontent. With the person we are. Thanks service near constant anxiety we harbor. Purveyors of self-improvement products self-help books to fad diets. Have a renewable market year-round. For there must have goods. Yep. Right now. We find ourselves in the midst of one of those times of year when were extra aware. Ivar self-doubt. And. Extra resourceful. At covering it up. Tis the season of barbecues and beach trips. Fireworks and flag-waving. Find our social calendar is chuck. And family commitments. And with greater mingling with friends and neighbors comes the tendency to. Compare. We can pay our properties close bodies jobs salaries vacation spots how well-read we are accomplished our children are. And what is true with your friendly neighborhood comparisons. Is true of international and national politics as well. We strive for greatness we compete. For partisan or economic or military dominance. We celebrate on the 4th of july the insistence. That we have what it takes to be. Number one. Indulging feeding this competitive drive is one major way that we respond. To doubts about our personal and collective self worth. Indeed.com. Playing with sand. On the beach comes to children. And so. Like the young woman in the senior high youth group proposed in castle contest. Rank the beach architects relative abilities before the levels that. We turn to the language. Of winning. We here. We internalize we professed that language in what seemed like. An objectionable waze. Take this year's superbowl for instance. Back in february. During halftime at the superbowl the chrysler automobile corporation a two-minute commercial featuring none other than hollywood leadman clint eastwood. Maybe you saw the ad made a real stir when it came out. It's halftime in america to eastwood wraps. Like a rusty kitchen knife slicing through a pile of gravel. He goes on to voice over a visually stunning montage. And their families everyday scenes working hard toughing it out. We catch only fleeting glimpses of their chryslers. But eastwood explicitly holds up as an example of how we can all make a comeback. Even if people are hurting him scared because. Strings and french horn strike up in the background as the ad reaches its climax. Coating eastwood. But after those trials we all rallied around what was right. Because that's what we do. We find a way through tough times and if we can't find a way then we'll make one. How do we come from behind. How to become together. How do we win. The spot ends up close and personal. Eastwood himself his hard-bitten face half-wit. This country can't be knocked down with one punch. We get right back up again and when we do the world is going to hear the roar of our engines. It's halftime america. And our second half is about to begin. It's a stirring ad. Beautifully shot and score gave me goosebumps ashley first time i sought. Yet it's called for national unity while admirable in itself. That we are validated. Worthy. Enough. And only if. We win. Like dirty harry in the chrysler van. Like a fanatical football coach who won't admit them your possibility of defeat. President obama himself. Go to saint to victory with his prophecy. In this year's state of the union address. Quote. If the playing field is level. I promise you. America will always win. And quote. Winning of course. Always implies. Los. It's like in football position your team has to lose fuel position. Our game implies your lost our victory spells your defeat. Entranced are we buy what bill home calls the voice of power. We can become oblivious to the destruction brought on by our personal and national quest. Predominance. Indeed. Power drives us to succeed expensive are. Fellow human beings. But at the expense of ourselves. Home rights if america quote. Examined without contradiction. The failures and contradictions of our own history. It would damaged beyond repair. The power of our heightened public rhetoric. What removes er express from the structure of the false self. We have built for ourselves. And quote. And then. On pain of shamefaced denial. We have to face up. To who we really are. And who are we. As a people. Alongside other virtues and among other things we are bad singers and halting piano players. Frustrated riders and stuttering conversationalists insurance sales people and poor farmers. Scattered immigrants. And scared wayfarers. We may judge ourselves less than attractive. Less than successful. To restorative to reserve too young. Too old. Power co-op. Our moral imagination. Self-love. Into self-doubt. Is fabricate new and ever more damning ways in which we can be found deficient. It stands ready to. Yankees from the game if we drop the ball in the end zone. Power brooks notes uses a grantsville pardons and acknowledges. That little hard work can overcome. What could we possibly say or do. To drown out powers booming voice in our heads. I'm talking about the boys. Come up short. When we measure ourselves against the world's unforgiving standards. Let me reach down deep. I'm talking about the distant goal. Powers favorite word. Is should. But we should be like. But we should be able to do. But it's seldom that easy. Wonder woman in tracy schmitz home enough gets too close to lehngo all of her shorts. Nauseous in dreams but in reality. She runs away. And you can bet the power. Which runs on fear. Help to make her travel arrangements. She runs away. And we can only assume that she rejoins the rat race. That austin petty consuming ruins striving for dominance. That is an insult to rats everywhere. One of the hardest. Words of encouragement to here. It's almost among those words we most need to hear. Be not afraid. Jesus of nazareth said it no fewer than seven times during his recorded ministry. Don't. Be afraid. Don't be afraid of listening to that still small voice. Clothes in there. That whispers again. And again. Without end. Q. So beautiful. So. Beautiful. Don't be afraid of trusting and what your daily living shows. That sacredness is unveiled. Through your own experience. Meaning. It's always already there. Don't be afraid. Don't be scared what is a sacred. What is whole. And lasting and real is not just that little colonel of accomplishments around. Not that iphone picture of a magnificent sandcastle we can look back on with pride. No we sense the constant presence of the sacred. When we realized that the details of our lives. The savory. As well as the unsavory once. Matter. They matter they have value for this world because every word we speak every action we take isn't unfolding. Opportunity. For inherent worth and dignity to be made actual. Visible. Manifest. So what is put her arms around everything that has ever happened to us. And give it an affectionate squeeze. Everything. Go ahead i'll get all all the photons and all your monumental failures included. Accept it all as a gift. A gracious gift. For just as in the dark places we can learn to. Loveagain ourselves. Our neighbors. Life itself. So2 in the midst of failure. When we are most keenly aware of our. Finite limited cells. Can we learn to embrace or abiding wholeness. Where do you locate that holness that's always already within you. Where do you feel. Doesn't have to grasp a trophies or tilting at windmills. Maybe it's in your soul. Your relationships. In your human capacity for bringing something new novel and yet unrealised into the world. Maybe it's the image of god in which you were made. Maybe it's that place of blissful emptiness. That is beyond all thinking. In your search for truth and meaning know that. Wherever you find that sacredness. That holness. Nothing. Can ever take it away from you. So what does it take to be enough. The short answer. It's nothing. Nothing. No action or inaction and no one. Can take our fundamental worth away from us. There's also a longer and in some ways. More challenging answer to the question. What is a take to be enough. And that answer is. Everything. Because in everything we do we can help our wholeness. Take shape. In the world. And we will experience outside ourselves. When we love. Trust. As unconditionally. As we are whole. Thomas merton. The esteemed christian mystic once said quote. Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire. Whether or not. They are worthy. That is not our business and in fact. It's no one's business. What we are asked to do is to love and that love itself. Will render both ourselves and our neighbor. Worthy. And quote. In every kind word we say to a stranger will probably never see again. In every kiss goodnight and every benefit of the doubt we extend we can help. For people who may not yet know it's grace. So let us extend. By concentric degrees that circle of love that invites everyone. Noah needs to earn our esteem. And we have no imagery needtobreathe. Imaginext. From your school your workplace. From this church. Imagine. Your biggest competitor. That evangelical church across town. Imagine it now surrounding the whole greater boston area. Embracing all who go unseen. All who hunger. All who feel their down-and-out. Imagine it extending to distant places whose names you never even heard of. But that needs assurance of worth. Just as much as we do. May the circle of enabling love dissolve in its warm embrace the fear of failure. And inadequacy wherever. And in whomever we encounter it. Like the inexhaustible ocean. The sacredness within us continually forms and caresses. Washes and dissolves. All the anxiety. That arrogant power has erected. If only. We let it. May we have the courage. To be naughty. Afraid. To move in greater harmony with that tide. That makes us holy enough. No team to best. Nicole. To accomplish. We are whole. I'm in. And blessed be.

uuneedham_org

031214_LindaHarkins--State_Rep._Economic&Human_Values.mp3

Good morning and welcome to the first parish in needham i'm john's urine minister. The culminating session in our. Teresa we've had all fall at 9:15 on sunday mornings are public open public forum. As our guests to talk with us about the economic issues being faced by our commonwealth. Our own state representative. Who was first elected. Psu may not currently served in the leadership of representative. She previously served. Served on a number of other house.. Member of an important committee always. Has tortured special education study committee that was created in the 1990s. Enter the house working group on special education. All of which is quite fitting because. Serving here on the needhams committee. And directed a collaborative vocational training program. In the metrowest area. He is a former elementary school teacher. Children. And as of. 7th grandchild. She tells me under the age of five. Her a particular concern about the future of education. And it said with great pleasure that i introduced you representative light harkins. And she joined three sisters the oldest of how much is 5. I wanted to talk to you a little bit today. And some of the tough tough choices that we've had to make as elected officials. Despite a lot of forethought and planning part of the house. Massachusetts. Services to disabled citizens to fire and police services here in needham. Programs with serve the mentally retarded. And these are programs that we in massachusetts have always prided ourselves on and their program. Valid sense of security over the years. Also trying to prioritize these with the menacing dollar to spend really a daunting task. U.s. budget process as well. And many other states find themselves with with the worth. The problems that we have. We've had contracted contraction in the area of manufacturing in this country and of course the high-tech sectors have all drop. At the same time we've had soaring health costs in many many states. Until all of this is combined to undermine the stability of our state budget. One thing that i wanted to point out to is it that this fails to reflect the impact that i think it's often understated the september 11th had on the economy here in massachusetts. Priorities had to really ship somewhat the public safety budget has been increased by approximately 300 million dollars instead of insufflator. Part of that was to cover that we have such as guarding the airport know a lot of the events that took place on that day emanated from our own logan airport so we have we've had new security concerns they're always had the guarding of tunnels and bridges and public buildings you may not know is the number one target according to the fbi for terrorists and in all of the new england states. Where is we once lived in a very bucolic state where we have 32 open doors to the public we've now had to install lots and lots of security kinds of checks and there's only one door open we have 24-hour metal detectors and state police and so on and so forth we've actually had to put on tuesday please classes because the men could not men and women could not serve as much overtime. Browning area so. Divine together has made us really. Have to look at not only those things which we thought of as extras but also at what we consider to be our fourth. Question what are core services. Has been a constant catalyst for discussion at the state house and i think we all still struggle with that question and then once we define what court services are the next question is what is an appropriate level of service to maintain these program. Dealing with. Last year three billion-dollar deficit this year it looks like it's moving are in 1.5 billion dollars more. We have to find anna massachusetts we have. In the past two years massachusetts has lost over 160,000. And i'm sure all of us know somebody who. Decision is to also try to stimulate in some way the economy to grow job so that our base is wider we've passed recently in the house and senate 100 million dollar anomic stimulus package. And it was passed overwhelmingly in both branches. It's called an act relative to investment in emerging technologies to promote job creation economic stability and creativeness in the massachusetts economy. And the centerpiece of that package is something called the emerging emerging technology fund and what that will do is it will support financing of manufacturing research and development and facilities with one of these clusters which we know do well here in massachusetts biotechnology pharmaceuticals. Defensive security environmental technology and information technology. Emerging emerging technologies even though our economy has been bad in the last year alone have added 37,000 new jobs to massachusetts and the biotech industry. We estimate the bike. 2010. I with the right, conditions. And that would generate another 320 million dollars. So. While. It's a tough task. What you've done and see what you can possibly do without i think in the long-term all of us feel that. We have to set some money aside to try to stimulate this economy and get it back and growing again because of the more people that are working then. The more the more revenues that the states receiving in the more were able to keep together these essential programs that all of us. Have come to count on. Number of years ago. Try to compare ourselves to other states. And to see why we spent so much more on social services and other states and we do that the findings were conclusive that massachusetts has compared to some of it. Of the other industrialized states does spend 10 to spend more in the area social services. On the other hand a lot of us have come to field a lot of those services are essential. For our citizens and so there was not really a great movement to try to move a lot of that money over into another area however we did do recognize. That we need to have some stability and that we do have these economic swing. And so the house for a number of years has had what we. We've been very diligent about putting aside money so that we can prepare for the inevitable. To the degree that we've had two and despite the fact that we really were very diligent about doing that. Economics. In such a short period of time that we actually went. Pretty much threw that money in 3 budget cycle. So one of the things that we have determined that we must do the next time is when the when he finally realizes that we have to be even more. Disciplined about putting. Greater amounts of money aside so that when the economy. Not extend it out over another two years so that we don't have this. Traveling up and down situation that we have which really wreak havoc with the services that we provide it also reached havoc with a lot of are very caring and dedicated state workers who were many times. You know great salaries and they also don't have a tremendous benefit package and they go to the jobs at 10 to go for us when we have to cut back on jobs so we'd like to be able to provide some stability for our own state workers. Every day so that they're not the first ones hit by every economic downturn. Services that you really feel are important. I know that one former legislator told me that he remembered coming into the house. And having his first meeting with the speaker in the speaker thing so now what would your town like and what things do you need let's try to incorporate them in the budget i've been in the house 15 years and i really never had the privilege of that question so. And there's always some people talk about the fact that dollar. It's not. With the events of september 11th in our new needs for security and generally with our need to recognize that in massachusetts we don't have a lot of natural resources in the sense we have a we have a wonderful educational system. I think at this point i'll stop and i'm happy to answer any questions that you might have thank you. A colin. And the equity of the picture. Weather in. Try to preserve some of these. Services. Bye. Doing some revenue. We cut the rate on our state income tax within the last decade and even within the last few years. We could get about a billion dollars back by going to the the race that we had in 1999. Is that something that you think will be on the table before the legislature. 42 times in the last 12 years. We roll back the income tax but we've also done a lot in the state taxes and lots of other taxes as well to do the same time we were tucked away into this rainy day fund. But there is no question. That these rollbacks that are still continuing. Are part of the problem that we have. And the house interesting lee enough a couple of years ago. To do something a little bit different with this rollback and it was it was not taken up in the senate and it was actually i think it ended up. It's okay to have the rollback guidance. I'll buy some economic indicators and when the indications are that the economy is bad. That it's time to freeze it. And then when the economy recovers. And that's what we voted and i'm very comfortable with that i think that that was a sensible approach to thing. So that. I certainly would be inclined to vote for something like that again. In terms of. Some kind of a new tax. And i would support it as i have in the past. Define education and i would be prepared to do that. Really. Politically did not much stomach for doing that. We've had a succession of people in governor's office of campaign. Ion no-new-taxes. We've had administration in washington. And we've had a number of elected representatives that have come in. What that is there montresor. One of my jobs is whip its accounts v. I am so i'm always doing little surveys of members to see how they feel about things. And there really is not an attack. The one of the things that i. For funding education so that we can get the burden of the property tax off some of these folks on fixed income and yet at the same time still adequately fund our educational program. We've just started to meet and we're looking at what i like to say not necessarily new taxes but it packed things differently. And by that i mean you know not putting so much of our municipal burden onto the property tax perhaps lowering a property tax. In order to in order to fun things i think in a fairaway. But in terms of overall revenue growth i just don't see that we have the majority to do that i do however think that members would look at freezing this rollback so that it doesn't. On the table again as as was everything last year we had number of tax both. Last year too but there really wasn't too much for it. Cricket. I'm wondering what the legislators doing. In working with the romney administration. Contain. Health cost explosion. I am familiar that a commission which warms our task force by former governor cellucci. It brought in the house at that time i was about 4 years ago. Everyone who is anyone in healthcare with the exception of the supply. And many of the organizations that are driving cost which is supply-side or absent. Are the providers were there. And your recommendations that were made but no stuff. I'm out of that. I'm wondering if there's been any discussion. Especially in light of new funding. That historically has been resistant. To coming to the table and looking at price control. Notably in the news national. From from. Out of the country from canada. How you guys are using your labret. To bring. Well we have a new cheer in the house of healthcare of a fellow by the name of students from waltham who's bringing a lot of new energy to that committee and of course healthcare is one of our budgets buses and. What should also know two is that the biggest part of our healthcare a class we know that we have the hospital cost and all those and free careful but also is the growing number of elderly that are now on medicaid and in nursing homes lots of people. You know we're critical about the fact that were too generous with welfare and so on and so forth but really. Big chunk of money now is going towards caring for elderly people in nursing home. And all of those related healthcare issues like pharmaceuticals. 10 years ago yourself healthcare. But what we found was it it was became very costly for us because we became a magnet for all the states around us and during that time i think i became convinced that. The best way to get a. Hold on on the rising costs of healthcare has to be from a national perspective as opposed to wednesday trying to do it alone that's not to say that we shouldn't be spending a lot of time trying to figure out a better ways to provide a real quick we have done some things. In the legislature with in terms of coverage for children and coverage for elderly and we have our prescription advantage program where we buy in bulk and try to try to keep the cost down for elderly folks the pharmaceuticals in the end we do that on a sliding scale and everybody has some level of eligibility for that. Comprehensive healthcare program as a single state. I think earlier experiment found that it's just became way too costly for us to do on our own and that we were drawing in many residents from our surrounding states so not true that will do that but i do think that in terms of. Area in terms of for instance that nursing staffing has been huge huge issue and and one that i am empathetic towards and i know that we've had picket lines up in front of brigham and women's in other places over the last couple years because of his nurses concern that we were really dropping below what was the safe level of care for patients on the other hand the hospital community said. Chelsea west that you know if you do that you're going to throw us into financial crisis and more hospitals will close because we can't afford to have that level of service. I am still maintain any kind of profitability so it's a delicate balance that you really have to deal with in that area but i have to say that and in some way and finance and i have not really in my experience in the house. Can too much in the area of healthcare but i do know that they're there is new leadership in that area they were put there because. They have done significant work we also created a new committee this year on medicaid. And because they had become such a large part of our budget problems and we have a young fellow from western meth who has had considerable background in that area and his. Mia wants to take a harder look at that and see how we can rain in the closet that make it more portable so they remember things going on in the legislature looking at healthcare. It's like you're having such a problem with the supreme court ruling on civil union civil marriage. Interesting because. I think that there was a real consensus. In the legislature for doing something around civil unions prior to the court. Action. Many of those that were waiting for the court to decide. Suggested that the port would never come down in favor of gay marriage that they would probably come down and then we. Ratify that someway. About the fact that the supreme court decision. Went as far as it did in terms of gay marriage and that. Has kind of taken everybody a backhand there now assessing what their position is anyway. Can i make the sleep now too. And i think that if you read the decision which is 95 pages long hindi tail at least my opinion and i'm not returning my opinion is that they do leave very little room. 4. Having civil union be the answer is clear. Bad people have to. To access. A civil marriage. Alot of dialogue about the fact that people have to get the terminology a little bit straight we're not talking about the sacrament of mcnamara matrimony we're not talking about a church sanctioned. You know situation in some cases and some cases maybe and so i think it's. We're taking a little bit of time. There is a black woman that i serve with who is. Very very. Staunch catholic. Who was willing to embrace. He now says well-supported spoken. Black woman. And i don't think that i can be in the business of taking away right. Get the court has granted. Because. You know i'm coming from the background then i come from other than too many. Rights taken away from some blacks and for women and i don't think that i can do that so i'm in terrible conflict to do something else and so she said you know i think. I come down on the favor. There was a good deal of support for this for the idea of civil union i think that would have passed easily. And i think that now everybody's having to sort of re-evaluate their position but. My senses. That you are among the members of the legislature who have indicated that you will not support. A constitutional amendment. What ineffective. Your from your colleagues. Takeaway. And i want to compliment you. I think one of the questions are concerned about rights and equity need to be asking. Our republic representatives at this point. It would be an unprecedented use of constitutional amendments in the united states. How to pass an amendment to the constitution. Remove. A court determined right. And i think we should. Backbeat.. Discussing the matter morons on that plane. Otherwise. If i could answer that i took myself to the kennedy library in november 22nd. Because my young youngest son 25. Sing to me. If i was very involved with civil rights in the end. You know that that's where i was anyway but i just went back and listen to some of the old arguments. An interracial marriage would bring for instance. That and also the arguments around separate but equal. Because if you recall you know there was that step the lord is good the one time instead of you provided a separate but equal education for black students as long as you spend the same amount on. Celery and i'm focusing on physical plant. Separate but equal is not equal. So you know if you think about that turns a civil union. That's separate but equal to and i'm not sure that that that would stand for truth me at all. Other questions. Ef me to teresa question. Taxation of corporation. And loved emma commonwealth with you. Back in. Provided. Four major employers. To stay here in the commonwealth and two. Try to stimulate the economy. But there's actually not. That's required. Beneficiaries of. Concession. They don't have to report about whether they actually created any jobs. As a result is there tax benefit. Are you aware of any initiative to try to close that kind of reporting. Loophole. And get the beneficiaries of a corporate tax. Break to give us a clearer picture of what they're doing. I'm not aware of any new initiatives in the area reporting all those currently is good suggestion but i will tell you that there are number of members of legislature especially in leadership. It feels very burnt. By the fact that they did offer. Some corporate tax breaks to preserve jobs. In some instances. And the corporations actually. Elsewhere. A places where they could get cheaper labor and so on and so real. Frustration. I with the fact that we've done that over number of years and then it really happened. That the corporations haven't held up their end of the promise. I think that's why. This time we're looking at stimulus. Tiffany move away from doing that and i moved towards trying to. Because. I've learned a lot about the fact that. Our committee on commerce and labor which is been a long standing committee. Was really geared towards. Those companies like raytheon and so on the large manufacturing companies their needs were so different. Are the needs of some of these newer startup companies that are smaller products frequently. Who have needs that are entirely different. In some of these larger corporations himself i think now when we're talking about how to stimulate the economy we're not looking at those kinds of tax breaks anymore because we've been burnt by those kinds of policy self. The idea of having some of that report. Text structure. As compared to other states. And you know what the bird was on our corporate taxes as opposed to our personal taxes. And we have been very generous as a state. I think. The idea was that we were trying to be helpful in preserving job. Trucks only refers to those reform that he's concerned about as combined to text reporting. Which would simply require this is a corporation. Do a comprehensive. I'll report to the state about the benefits. But they're receiving as a result of concessions. What is happening. Are there other questions from the. You know what do you see it happening in the next couple of years within the commonwealth. Couple of things that i can that i can. First of all. We're looking at alternatives to the property tax for funding education i think that's essential. I have been alone voice on a number of years but as i said we now have a commission going to look at what is the best way to pay for public education public education is required. By our constitution it's a state requirement that we provide. You know it and education for our children therefore i think it's state responsibility and it should not necessarily be. The drug valium responsibility town to town the whole idea vitraform with the try to balance the amount of money spent on children whether they lived in edinburg over whether they live in chelsea. But even out tomorrow areas in western massachusetts. What are you done a lot of people feel that we've redistributed. And they all that we've put so much money not into these. Communities that really didn't have enough property tax. Well. How to raise the money that we've disproportionately. Communities like the ones that i represent and especially for folks that are perhaps. Sitting in the house just got a lot of value to it but it's been there. Lifeline house. And they're not really benefit from the from the money. Represented by that equity in the house. Forcing people to sell their home. Because we speak of it becoming so expensive to live here and all of you. River communities in the suburbs that and they're considered wealthy. It we now have a tremendous tax burden on the property tax to fund education and i think we could get a lot of the inequities taken care of if we moved. Add to a funding more of education from the from a state tax. And left. The property tax to take care of the municipal side of government. So that's one thing work on the other. Google assistance is one of our real budget factors. We are spending we were very generous in the good times and we started up a lot of projects. And what's happened the courses that you keep paying out on those projects for 20 years. The funniest if we did five or ten projects that you know we have that 20 years. The last few years. We have this whole book. If the epidural in the last few years the project that we were in massachusetts. But we were very generous and. We now have. That really. Is it is a tough thing when. People are looking at our bond rating. Wall street looks at the amount of caring it turns out to be a bad thing so we frozen. Last year we froze any new additional projects in school building systems. Really need to look at better and more efficient way to provide. Parietal google assistance and there is a commission established to look at that i'm not sure that the department of education should be in the business. Developing school bowling. I'm not. Person that thinks we should privatize everything but this is an area where i think perhaps. It would make some sense for us to look at other models and there are the models in other states and other provinces of canada where you know private field is good for these things and then maybe least the buildings back to the town for 20 years and so there are other kinds of things i'm not sure that that would really fit for here but we cannot afford to keep building the number of buildings and renovated buildings were doing because we're just we have too much fun. And my concern is. That even though we don't have any legal document that says we must. Keep that commitment i think we have a moral commitment. Keep those projects alive that we accepted. And pay them out at relatively the same percentage that we agreed to. There are many in the statehouse that disagree with me they said we just can't afford to do that. Also that's if that's going to take some real tight oversight to make sure that those projects that are in the pipeline. Get funded and at the town's get the percentage back if they were counting on that's all very much in jeopardy right now because of the amount of data bonded indebtedness that we have. Earlier. And this is some of his recommendation tied in with one of the four communities like needham trying to do something around. Has reported to a set of recommendations that would encourage community hours to. And where the state would then take on the responsibility for paying the educational cost. Students with live in those created newly-created affordable. Housing unit. Is that something that you see cummings at this was the product of a commission that i believe the governor appointed coming before the next session. I'm not sure that was actually coming before our current session but there's been a lot of discussion around. And i have heard that plan as well and a number of others that would address new ways to try to do this but you're right tired of the lincoln. Is that people are concerned about the education of god. Princeton midfield also. And mansfield their state hospital is closing. In a planning around what should be done with the property and one of the things that midfield is going to play the is the idea of doing a lot of affordable housing there maybe getting to their 10% mark. So that they don't have to worry about coming in. There's a lot of concern about. What kind of burden that will put. School. We have to be careful when you're doing budgetary kinds of decisions. Heather and that's something that we. They've done some studies that have actually shown. That the percentage of increase in students. If they did you know different sizes. That if you know it would generate some new students but not nearly. As much as i think was.. So it it that is balanced in the end and we are going to have to look at new. And innovative ways to do that part of that. Part of that has to include picking up more of a burden for the educational anyway. One of the things that i've been moving to needham. Is the way in which the clergy. Working turned in many respects about the way in which the rising housing values in town. Are creating a kind of a two-tier. God in the community. And the vice ice regarding steps toward affordable housing is having several advantages for us. Evidently big chamber of commerce when they spoke with governor romney. Express their concern about affordable housing as one of the greats. Two of recruitment of those same high-tech workers that you were concerned about. And moreover. Preserving. The diversity economic diversity of our communities i think is something that's of towns like needham are going to need to. Brenda.. Does the earth go ahead we don't want to see. People being forced out of their homes and the middle-class people of meddling income. Dropping away so that we have nothing but subsidized housing. Very expensive house. Let me just say this about 40b. A number of bill's right now in the committee on housing. They're looking at ways to kind of dual-sim corrective. I worked for tbn i think that needs to be done. Problem with 40b which for those of you that don't know if there is. We have it said that the temperature in affordable. And they can. They can bypass local zoning. Not have to go through all of those steps and they can. They can initiate a large project. Affordable units because the community has not. 10%. So it's a little bit of a hammering over-the-head kind of approach. Because i think the goal is a worthwhile goal. We will be looking at in this upcoming session. That first of all we have to be careful about what we count is affordable. Number of kinds of housing available. Apartments. 2. Community that serves a population. Affordable units. Closer to that 10% goal and i'm not saying if that's necessarily takes care of all the needs. And suggesting 800 affordable units in one spot. For community to happen. Some kind of its tail between the population. We really need to i think work with communities more towards. You know trying to develop their own plans. They decided what kind of portable units they would like it would best serve their community. They develop them themselves they held a lottery. They have a lot of folks that were account employees and they had a lottery they still had to set aside certain amount of those units to be open to anybody but they were able to step aside some for their own community residence. That word a certain income level and they held their own lottery so they're close to town they're kind of new england and flavor a lot of their own local. and they didn't have the imposition of a builder coming in and deciding throw up. 400 units in one spot. So i really need to be able to develop this what's the fire. Confirm that respected it was probably a good thing that it's now time for people to. I think working well cooperative way towards developing affordable housing for their individual communities. This has been a wide-ranging discussion. I think that. People who served in public office and especially of leadership. Are so clearly required to become knowledgeable about. But the wide variety. Economics and public issues but it's really quite daunting. And i must say it's impressive to hear. Call yuka flow. Managed in the 15 years that you served in the legislature to become familiar with so many of them. Very basic issues. Cesar commonwealth. Anyone who served in public office. It is a daunting task one doesn't do it for the glory when i knowed i not always have a great admiration for anyone who's willing to step forward. The run for public office. Enter into opening a dialogue with the citizens. About our common future and i think we owe you a great debt of gratitude for coming to our forum and discussing these important it economically issues the face to commonwealth with us. And for serving us in the great and general court thank-you representative arkansas.

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20101128_is_america_in_decline_john_sermon.mp3

Call his son down in texas. On the weekend before thanksgiving. And told him well son your mother and i are getting divorced. She's a liberal especially with my money. And i'm a conservative. And we just can't stand each other anymore. I'm telling you first eddie. Because you're the elvis. You tell your sister. Eddie called his sister and julie out in california and she said no way. I'm going to stop them i'm going there thursday with my husband and the kids you and your family come to that'll make something. A few phone calls later. Ed's wife sarah turns to him and says. Snooze deer. Both eddie and julie and their families are coming for thanksgiving and paying their own way for a change. Wonder how many american families. Talk politics. For the economy over the thanksgiving. Dinner table this year. Not many i suspect. The chance of conflict. Probably appear to great. Even though more of us. Are worried about our collective future. Opinions differ so deeply about what is causing our problems and what to do about them. That silence. Is often chosen. Rather than speak. We don't want to fight. And yet is my friend bill jones an african-american unitarian universalist minister offenses. About. Our country's continued dilemmas about race. Diagnosis therapy. And our diagnosis matters. Kennedy school of government at harvard and another good unitarian. Points out in a recent article in foreign affairs that americans are prone to cycles of belief. In our own decline. The founding fathers worried about comparisons to the roman republic. When charles dickens united states a century-and-a-half ago. If it's individual citizens are to be believed america is always depressed. Always has stagnated. And always is at an alarming crisis. And never was otherwise. In the last hat in the last half-century and i observed belief in american decline rose after split neck. In 1957. After the oil shocks of the 70s. And after the closing of the rust belt industries in the reagan era. But ten years later american saw the united states as the sole superpower on the planet. And now polls show that many people believe. In american decline again. I take a look at our religious history in. Find this up-and-down pattern even older. Back in the 1600s very soon after thanking god for so many blessings. Early ministry. Demanding fast. Nazi states. Good morning there people that god had withdrawn his favor that all was in decline due to their manifold sins. And standing in pulpits like this preaching jeremiah. Today if possible i'm going to try to be just a bit more bell. Opal like everyone else. I see that our nation faces. Serious problems. Rising public debt decaying infrastructure. Failing public education escalating health-care costs. Huge military expenditures. And the political system that. Is clearly better at distributing benefits. Then it is at parceling out sacrifice. Night and other more balanced observers i think this is only part of it. We scream about our problems mcgregor. An american businessman and author who lived in china for many years. But as long as we have the immigrant. Listen to that. As long as we have the immigrants in the university. Will be fine. I just wish we could put lojack's on the foreign students. To make sure they stay. Jim fellows who also lived in china for many years in a row. Atlantic article. Called how america can rise again. Points out that a fourth of the members of our national academy of sciences. We're now born overseas. Is america in danger of decay like ancient rome well. Maybe he says. But hardly in the same way. And like 90 points out that people have been worrying about this since the very founding of the republic. I'm more inclined than i to think that perhaps we are suffering from imperial overstretch. With are more than 700 military bases. Overseas. With afghanistan now the longest war in american history. With very few signs that a counterinsurgency strategy is going to do any better there than it did in vietnam. And that's what bothers me most is that neither political party on the national scene today even seems to?. Just why we spend almost a trillion dollars a year. On military and related costs. On what chalmers johnson the former cia consultant and author who died this thursday. Has called our empire vases. Out there defending our empire of overconsumption. Or perhaps. To remind us that with 5% of the global population. We here in america seems to think that we are permanently entitled to consume. Some 25% of the planet's resources. There is an issue. But others notice about us. As nice as the problem in the 21st century then is not one of decline. But what to do in light of the realization that even the strongest and wealthiest country. Cannot achieve the outcomes at once without the help of others around the globe. An increasing number of challenges will require the united states to exercise power with others. As much or more is power over. There are three reasons i think we don't ever question the huge proportion of our budget deficits that are so-called security-related. First because we've confined military service to the few. There's no draft is there was during vietnam. Otherwise families would be chattering. Mightily over the thanksgiving dinner table and pouring out into the streets demanding that the war in afghanistan in. Second because the military-industrial complexes. President eisenhower aptly-named. Does engineered pedagogue expenditure so that every congressman and senator in the country. Has basis independent contractors to protect. Answered because our politicians have especially since 9/11. We're more effectively motivated by our fears and by our shared holes. Otherwise the senate this week would ratify the new start treaty with russia. And help keep pressure on iran. But the forces that like to keep everybody afraid. Are i'm afraid. Quite powerful. Same is true about our most pressing domestic issues simply actually is. Several recent commissions to pointed out stabilize our future balance-of-payments to ourselves. Reform social security and medicare. By privatizing social security that would mean everybody's retirement would be as volatile as their ira has been in recent years. But just by gradually slowly increasing the retirement age. Those are life expectancies have increased. And our payroll taxes somewhat as well. And not by repealing healthcare reform. But rather by using the fact that everyone. Or almost everyone is now insurance to show us that we all have a stake. In reducing healthcare costs by trying to stay healthier. By choosing less. Costly alternatives. By getting providers to become more accountable and transparent to patients. Republic. And above all not by stopping the flow of immigrants. Insubordination. Make more than legal perhaps. Invest in education. Invest in infrastructure and broadband connections in high-speed rail in green technology and related job but stay true to the vision of what this country has always aspired to be. Namely a land of opportunity. Which brings me to the central fear that i. Want to express about america's future. The way in which we have allowed economic inequality. Over the last 30 years to increase in our country. Has heard us in ways that we don't even begin to realize. Friends when it is chiefly the rich get richer. While the rest stays stuck. Bad things tend to happen. In a society. The us now has the highest ratio of any income inequality of any democracy with an advanced economy. But we get with that lower what we get with that is a lower rate of social mobility. Opportunity itself. And a worse index of social problems in ill-health. We get a higher rate of crime. A higher rate of addiction in mental illness. And a perverse combination of higher healthcare expenditures. A person with lower life expectancy. These signs of decay are heavily correlated internationally. With economic inequality. Which we are not addressing. We are still the world's wealthiest country by far but we are allowing the well. The pile-up in too few places and as my father once put it on the farm they know that wealth is like manure when it's piled up it stinks. And was spread out on the field it does some good. Is america in decline. To an extent. I think that's thinking that we are. Easily becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. In which everyone tries to hold on to what they have. And those who have the most unused wealth to manipulate those who are most frightened. Interfere based and foolish short-term policies. We will be in decline. For example if we pull up the drawbridge to opportunity and exclude newcomers from breaking their new energies to america we will be in decline. If we don't reconsider descending our empire of excessive consumption with an also excessive unaffordable empire a basis and endless wars in high-cost weaponry. We will be in decline. If we don't get past. Are political polarisation. And see once again that we are kin. All in this together. Around 1 table. If ordinary hard-working americans whose incomes and retirement prospects. And future hopes for their children have already entered decline don't begin to see that your individualism. And anti-government slogans. Are not a sufficient solution. Some go so far to say they want our government so small that it can be drowned in a bathtub. But friends we cannot afford. A divorce. Between the public and private. Sectors. Of our society. For the solutions that both. Could offer to our shared problems. Destroy public roads and bridges schools and hospitals and eventually you destroy private business as well. Is jim fallas points out when people marvel modern china. What theory admiring is a combination of public infrastructure and rising pot private enterprise. Things that made our country as well. And that's not socialist. It's public investment. For the common good. Turning things around will require. Some dialogue and some pain but it is not impossible. It would help. If a party of the right at the national level would admit to the great deficits that we scream about were caused largely by failing to taxes in time of war. It would help if a party of ballestas a local level would often concede. Unrealistic to public unions. I brought. Government at every level into some disreputable as inefficient. Corrupt. It worked. Pope messianic leadership but perhaps. A renewal. Of a shared and more hopeful and more perfect. Grounded in that sense of what we've always tried to be. Around the common table. Plus a collective will to look at one another. As all potentially parts of the solution. And not just as parts of problem. So perhaps our real question. Should become 10 america rise again. After having overconsumed. Let's pray. This thanksgiving holiday. But we can have a deep enough vision. A deep enough gratitude. A deep enough for parents with one another to at least begin. For the ideas. Is still one. Worthy of defense. And won the world still needs. May it flourish.

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20111030_living_in_the_great_family_of_all_souls_john_sermon.mp3

One of the great divisions in religion that often seems. Is the division between. Those orthodoxies that. Suggest that what matters most is. The jesus died. I do or how we die. And the state of one soul at the end. And those. That suggests that what matters is how you live. When is old aunt louisa as henry david thoreau in his last illness. Have you made your peace with god. Throw reportedly replied. I'm not aware that we ever quarreled. In our approach like his. What matters is how we live all along. Even as we're dying. Which were also doing all along. Although god knows we tend to deny it. And if we make mistakes along life's way as surely we do. I think most such mistakes are. Her often. Tied up with our denial. Of the reality of our mortality and send it to. They come from pride. From the narcissistic assumption that we can. By our cleverness somehow out with. The common human see. Alarm 8 an example based on the offertory anthem that we just heard. It may surprise you to learn that the author of nearer my god to thee was a unitarian. An english poet. Name sarah flower adams. Like many people in the early half of the 19th century. Sarah knew she was dying. From a very early age she had tuberculosis. She did die of it it only 43. Arrowhead it as well. He made it to 45. Death from that disease i'm told his pretty awful. A bit like drowning. And of course that him of hers became most famous when it was played. Not quite a century ago. In april of 1912. When the ship titanic. Sank in the atlantic. It was played by eight musicians left behind on the afterdeck. They're too tunes for the ham. The one we just heard. Is by lowell mason. Who at age 17. Became the director of music. At nearby first parish in medfield. Now unitarian universalist 1809. But the sinking of the titanic. For me is a teaching moment of our. Our own denominational history. Because the designer and builder of the great ship thomas andrews jr of belfast. Well he was a unitarian as well. Or as they call our religious cousins around belfast ain unsubscribing presbyterian. Because you know in belfast even if you convert to the baha'i faith. They ask you what are your protestant bhai or a catholic behinds. So the unitarians are non subscribing presbyterian. Andrews was on board the ship. When it went down. He had to tell the captain. Let the ship that had been touted is unsinkable in fact that but only if. Up24 of it's watertight compartments. We're breached. And not the six that the iceberg could torn. So abandon ship. Andrews told the captain. You have at most two hours. Before it goes down. The sinking by the way was not. The fault of the designer builder. It came from two factors. What was the orders to the captain. From the owners. To try to beat all the speed records across the atlantic and. Go full speed even through fog. In an area of icebergs. And the number of people who died. Was connected to the decision. To minimize the number of lifeboats. In order to maximize. The number of luxury cabins. On the upper decks. Andrew's design the titanic to have 64 lifeboats. More than enough for the full capacity. All passengers and crew instead of carried only 16. Barely enough for half. Of the 2200 people. On its maiden voyage. There were two men who were responsible for this decision. When was the head of white star lines the owners. J bruce ismay. Who was also aboard. And climbed into one of the last flight boats after the women and children have been loaded. And the other was the chief investor behind white star the american banker j pierpont morgan. Who had been scheduled to be aboard but who's cancelled. At the very last moment. After the catastrophe andrews who went down with the crew. Was acclaimed as a hero. There's a stained glass window. Dedicated to him in the unitarian church of comer. Northern ireland. Is me. Who had a bad enough case of survivor guilt already. Was shamed. And hound it. Into self-isolation. For having survived. And for the last 25 years of his life. Was a miserable lonely man. By the way he too and then raised unitarian. Although he had left the faith. In order to marry upward. So head. J pierpont morgan's father. Who was the son of a boston unitarian abolitionist minister. For whom he named his son. But the great banker. In the one year he survived after the sinking. Surprised many people. To keep the us european economy from sinking. Pierpont recognize that he'd had to rescue it. Once before the panic of. 1907. And he supported. The starting of the federal reserve system. And. The institution of a progressive income tax. Taxing the wealthy. At a higher rate than smaller earners. Today when you hear loud but historically ignorant voices. Calling for undoing those progressive reforms. Well maybe your heart like mine sinks. I think this is what happens in times of. Financial panic. Heartsync. Some regress and start to shout save me. Save me from any longer-term thinking about anybody else. Or from any imaginative compassion. For future generations. This no longer surprises me. I think about tudor generations quite a lot. But it does disappoint me. Just earlier this morning some of us were discussing these issues in conjunction with our first parish book of the year. Karen armstrong's. 12 steps to a compassionate life i won't repeat her whole argument. But it suggests that. Our society is addicted to short-term thinking. And reactivity. And that perhaps each of us would do well to recognize the deep within us has the old reptilian brain. But also thinks only about its own survival. But it's self-serving. And profit-oriented is it work. And that collectively and individually we can only really be saved. By that higher brain. But is capable of more imaginative compassion. But if you missed this morning's discussion i invite you to the one that will take place late in november. What i want to emphasize this morning is that the difference between andrews and ismay and morgan. It's not who survived. Or how. Or when. Or how well. That person died. What matters. Is what. Each. Live for. And how. Even is some went down in defeat. As indeed. All of us will. In the end. Before forces that are more powerful. Then our will. Is mahin morgan's father left the unitarian fold for fortune. And for more fashionable and superficial face. But i agree with his holiness the dalai lama. Whether a person is a religious believer. Does not matter much. Far more important. Is the baby. A good. Human being. Nor is good living in my view a matter of imitating only one good model whether jesus or the buddha. Or any other. Channing and other early unitarians i think we're right. And emphasizing wedding all souls. There is something of the divine potential. Do it manifests itself. With a richness. Diversity. That is alone capable. I'm showing for the fullness. Of divine harmony. The whole purpose of human life is to realize that. The attributes that theologians traditionally give to god about goodness and mercy and benevolence and compassion. Injustice. And other virtues. Are not just in some. Other heavenly realm beyond this life. They're potentially. Within. In different forms and combinations certainly. And not wholly present in any perfect human. But far more realizable. Inaccessible. And achievable. Then any old-style calvinist preaching about. Predestination and other human depravity to never. Suggest. Human beings. Weren't short-sighted. Or greedy or selfish. Or even brutish times. But he was disinclined. To give up. On the divine potential. In-n-out. He saw each as a living member. Of the great family of all souls. And when i served as minister of the unitarian church of all souls in new york city which channing himself. That phrase appeared at the top of the order of worship every week as it does here today. It when i left. The congregation gave me a calligraphy certificate that. Now hangs in my study. Thanking me for my time with them and proclaiming me to be still. A living member. Of the great family of all souls. With all the rights and perquisites that attend there too. And i might add the responsibilities. Lately and working with families. Lost loved ones. Parents. And there's been a lot of it this fall. I've been very conscious that no real human family. Is made up of all saints. Or is without hurt. The tragedy. Challenges. And flaws. Our beloved dead. We're not all saints just all souls. And just as each of us has a character that bears. Some of the marks in potential of the divine so we also each come from families. Where the souls who went before us were. Well shall we say perhaps less than fully realized. Or enlighten. There's a british. Philip larkin. Who wants. Put it with the lien. Stronger language than all use here they mess up our mums and dads. They may not mean to. But they do. They hand out all the faults they had and add some extra. Just for you. But they. We're messed up in their turn. By pools in old style hats and coats. Who half the time we're stopped eastern. I'm half at one another's throats. Manhattan salon misery. The man. It deepens like the coastal shelf. Get out as quickly as you can. And don't have any kids yourself. The critics of larkin that he captures. The essence of human despair. Accurately. Is to render it's perfectly absurd. The real challenge of course is to defy such cynicism. It's to live hopefully. Faithfully. Mindfully compassionately thinking not just of ourselves. But yes. Upcoming generation. This week. Wet and i celebrated the birth on wednesday of our second grandchild. Hannah rose marie. Who came into the world all eight pounds in one ounce of her out in san francisco. And i can think of very little else. Except her future. And her soul. The world into which we welcome her is still too sadly addicted. What is not soul. But self. It is short-sighted and lacking an empathy. Pull up blaming and reactivity and polarization but there is little we can do any of us. For the sake of all souls. Except to begin with our own. The try is gandhi put it to be the world that we want to see. Within the family i've learned a secret. Good marriages with simple. It's to be able to look in the mirror periodically especially when you're angry or disappointed in your spouse and say several times. You know. You're no prize either. Or is it t-shirt i once saw on a teenager put it succinctly. Only you can prevent narcissism. We like to think. But we can be people of maturity and compassion. Simply by thinking that we are. But it's one of my wise mentors putteth we must not trust. In the immaculate conception of our own virtue. But rather practice instead. The social incarnation. Of the good we claim to love. And do that one step at a time i would say. Karen armstrong. It takes steps. Pardon bad embody. Hopefully compassionate and mature spiritual life. No one ever told us. We had to study our lives. Adrienne rich. Make of our lives the study. Is if learning natural history. Or music. It should be that we should begin with the simple exercises first. I'm slowly go on trying the hard ones. Practicing until strengthen accuracy. Became one with the dairy. Into transcendence. Take the chance of breaking down the wild arpeggio. Or faulting the full sentence of the fugue. And in fact we can't live like that. We take on everything at once. Before we've even begun. To read. 4marq time. We're forced to be in the midst of movement. The one already sounding. As we are born. And so we come here. Week after week. At least some of us. Despite the snow. The practice. To relearn. To go back to basics. Step-by-step. Retrace the path way. Do compassion. Greater wisdom. Automatic spiritual maturity. Because how and when we come to die matters far less. Then how we together as living members now of the great family of all souls. Lead the lives. That we are privileged. Delete. Hoping that in the end. They are worth dying for. However imperfectly. I do it. And many of you know my very worst. I truly love working at this. Practicing with all of you. My fellow pilgrims. Here at this. Shared little campsite. 4 meeting house in needham. May we continue to do with well. In the finite time. That is ours to.

uuneedham_org

20120120_when_christian_sermon.mp3

Should be questions of faith. When. When. So there you go when is now i guess. So i need a little bit of your help to make you talk to each other again or anything crazy like that. There's just a responsive part to this. So whenever i say if not now. You should say when. If you forget it's actually here it's the last part of the quote at the top of the order of service to. If not now. Good. Give me a little more enthusiastic the right if not now tray okay. Great. So today is the day we talked about time and when. If not now. So i realize that this is something that can very easily veer into the both strange and academic when you really start thinking about time you didn't like these time travel loops and. I get confused really quickly i'm not talking about time like that. I hope. But how often do we talked about the importance of time in our lives other than asking what time it is perhaps. Need to know what time it is i brought a clock hangout. Can also turn around and look at won't be offended. Because all of us live in the midst of time all our lives even the youngest of us have a history behind them. All of us have a future we have a present right now. And this is actually really important concepts in liberal religion and i'm going to tell you why in a minute. That we are living in a historical reality in that we are affected by things that we affect the world. So today we're going to talk about this cuz if not now. So let me give you a little perspective on how other religions talk about time there's. Every answer in the book is probably fair game. One that i know a little bit about is east some of the eastern religions have similar ideas about time. 4. And since it's a very simple but not wrong way to say that buddhism the emphasis is on the now. There's a past and there's a future but you're supposed to be rooted. In the moments right here the goal is to be fully present. Other eastern religions some of them take a similar approach as long as you. Hope i said that even close to right. The chinese scholar said this. There is a time for putting together. And another time for taking apart. The one who understands this course of event. Takes each new state. In its proper time with neither sorrow nor joy. We're right here not worried about what will come. But in this moment. Sundancer pretty wise approach. After all things will come whether we want them to or not and. Wanting them to come sooner or later is generally a foolish enterprise we don't have that much control over the universe. Other theological perspectives believe in say dual realities the coexist. With some things existing outside of time. God for instance. And not dependent on it. The one example of this is the idea that god is unchanging and ultimate really reliable and eternally good. And that makes a lot of sense to me too and a way in a world that is dangerous a lot of times and unsettled and difficult to navigate. Just downright scary. It can be really comforting to know that at least one thing will never change. So in that sense when becomes a question that can be quite easily answered the answer is always. God is always there always the same. And like i said this too makes a lot of sense to me. And then there's a whole nother major school of thought in western theology. One of the movement's is really concerned with this idea of time is process theology. I'm given to understand that my predecessor in this position the reverend molly hush gordon was something of a devotee of process theology so maybe some of you have heard a little bit about this. I can't claim to be an expert but i know some. Sew-in short process theology says that the universe is actually made up of actions and movements of things working on and within through each other. That's as opposed to the idea of a god that separate from time and space. Cousin process. god is part of the universe not separate from its. And is working through us and anna's and on creation all the time. And most importantly god is also being affected. Buy creation and buy us in at least in some small way. As much as we are affected by god. However you think of god. So in this schema god is completely present in time. And in space. And is as much of the part of the world as any of us. So that seems awful academic like i said i hope that i made some sense there. Cuz it can seem like none of this time stuff matters or it's at least sort of removed from our everyday lives like. What time is it is actually probably the most important question i asked about time on a daily basis. But let me offer a different way of thinking about it. I was so happy to learn that i would be preaching on the day before martin luther king day. In part because i wanted to do the sermon about time and i think it's especially appropriate. For those two to come together. King knew the importance of time. As evidenced by part of what i read in my final speech in his final speech. He knew as a as an another great man said i quoted earlier that nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetimes. In his final speech king mentions.. He says he's been to the mountaintop seen the completion of his life's work. Though he doubted he would be around to see it. Invati. Today we still don't live in a world that has no hunger or no discrimination or no war. So we're not there yet even these. Many years after kings.. King's faith rested on an idea that's this. It's the now and the not yet. This is a important religious idea to. He recognized this present reality this world that we see today that's in front of us that we touch and then work with. He recognized that it wasn't what he wanted it to be. He could imagine something better. And it's in that he also saw the possibility of a better world. In the future. One that he could play a small part in creating. So is unitarian-universalist this is our faith to this is all right.. We see a world with problems poverty racism hunger. We could go on naming all sorts of issues that aren't as we would have them be today. Do y'all still have the vision of a better world. Dan's we have faith that we can be a part of that each in our own small way. And in those ways in communities like this that we come together to participate in the creation of that world. I think this is why we meet here on sundays. Why we engage in social action advocacy. Why we come here to deepen our own spiritual lives and why we go out into the world as unitarian universalist and try to make a difference. Because we know that this present reality is not the only reality that exists. There are possibilities beyond what exists today. For king of course the issue becomes cloudier. I mean i may be about to blow some people's minds here. When i point out to you that i wasn't born until 13 years after martin luther king died. It's a longtime 13 years and it's a longer time since he's been gone. And in that time. Some of what his now was and some of what his not yet. Have been forgotten or or or misremembered. It's easy to forget that he was a really controversial figure in his own time. Not just among whites who opposed to civil rights work obviously but. Among many others who disagreed with say his anti-war stance. For his work on behalf of workers he was in memphis that day just supported sanitation strike. Far too often we make him into a saints. And forget that he was also a flawed controversial person. And his public and personal lives. The not yet that he's dreamed of we've failed to live out in so many ways. But the good news. Is it there still time to do better. There is a now and there is still a not yet always and folding before us. We are a people who believe in this now and in the not yet. That were willing to face the harsh truth of our present reality in this world. And hold onto the face and hope in the possibility of a better tomorrow. The now and the not yet. Means that we can have hope even when things look bleak. It means we don't need to fix everything. That we can make mistakes. It means we can stay rooted in this present moment but not be tied to it. It also means that any moment. This moment. Is the perfect time to start. Or to restart. To do something to improve our lives and those of our fellow humans. If not now. Friends is up to us. To continue the work of king. And of those like him here in our own time. In our own now. If not now. And made a few so. Both now and forevermore.

uuneedham_org

040125_Dr_Shipman--Single_Payer_Health_Care.mp3

Let me do the honors. introduce our speaker. Iran current canonica stand. Enduring human values. What are the most important. Economic issues that our society faces. Obviously it's a the crisis in healthcare. And the existence of american. Who have no health insurance. Our speaker has been an activist for a number of years. Whip. Mascara. Grassroots organization in the state that is deeply concerned about these issues and the proposes. What is an extension of the medicare program. To cover all of us. Cover all citizens. Single-payer. Dr. avram chipman. Have the wrong town there. Is a psychologist. What's the plunge in and then we'll ask some question. Kiefer having. America's health-care system. Perhaps to understate the case in embarrassment before the world. And i'm very serious not to say. Another part of the elephant is that there is an obvious and definitive solution to the problem. Proposed at workout. Come to work elsewhere. Do many americans have. Managed to be kept ignorant of some from which conflicted. Extortion. He'll let me go. We going to the components. Preflight. United states. Major countries in the world. Signatory to the un declaration of human rights. Is definitely considered the right to healthcare. And from a human and moral point of view is not hard for any of us. Addison. Life on earth while we cannot avoid the problems of. Our earliest years in our last. Earth that it is possible for people to ameliorates. Medicine and if the law profession. And damages caused by and accidentally. Fundamental. How wealthy they are of where or whether they work. And what their condition is. Yet. Here is the paradox. United states. United states spend more on healthcare. Related. Matter than anybody else other country. And yes. Country. Make. Available to. Everybody. The wailing. Expensive. Most of us can i pay for it out of pocket. Form of insurance. Characteristics. Can i have. Is equivalent. Outdoor lighted problem. Something like 20% of the population of this country. No health insurance at all at the present time in the number is rising. Information. 20%. Are totally without health insurance. Many many more have something that passes itself. When everyone loses order for change of address. The coverage. Or it. Virtually disappears if one has a change of address. The bureaucracy. If one has a relative who suddenly is in an accident or gets sick. Even if one is personally at the relative is not a minor family plan. Turn on the lights.. For this insurance if it's affordable virus by young person who is. In graduate school are starting out a job like our son is for example. Catastrophic only insurance. Which means major major. People don't have preventive care. They're not likely to go to a doctor. If they have a little fever or a cold or some other not totally. Or if you're poor. And you don't have milk. Doctor then when your baby is sick. Emergency room. And it's generally. Nanette from the standpoint of the patient. With the current healthcare system. Will quibble over this or that and have to correct mistakes. By end of course when you get to the health professionals. The conditions of practice become so frustrating. Constantly barraged with ever-increasing volume. Time spent filling out forms on the phone arguing with. Reviewers. But nonetheless. The problem with. Play a part of. From informing their patients about the shortcomings or problems. Society. Protect on the other hand. Left-handed. Can't work so it's an extremely stressful healthcare business. Fewer nurses on intensive care units means that if somebody gets fixed but if one of their colleagues get 6 i can suddenly be told after an 8-hour shift they've got to stay another 8 hours. It doesn't matter that they've got a kid to pick up a daycare or anything else. Nurses regular lady. Personal break for few minutes and this is becoming. Make out like bandits i have. Table somewhere in here. Credible salaries in the millions of the stock options worth even more of the heads of some of the biggest medical insurance company i remember a documentary. Dr. hassan i can't recall what what which outfit he was the head outside. Also. Who else makes a very well profits of. Healthcare companies and middle management. Who are the. The people that. Put up the roadblock caribbean simplified. I remember once talking to a legislative aide in the state house. The problem with universal health care. Company. I guess a lot of people work for insurance company. Somebody to pensacola. Stop burning witches at the stake because think of all the job. The paper pushing my own experience i remember at mclean hospital. Part-time consulting a teaching job. The third floor of the administration building. Psychologist. Or reduce the number and the officers were occupied by people who had computers on their desk the proverbial green eyeshade in other people who who did the number-crunching. Any factor grass that i might shut so i could do some of you in which from the 70s the growth of the professions. The number of people employed in healthcare showed that doctors and nurses there two different. The other thing that's happening of course with our healthcare system is the closing of hospital. I'm sure you can all think of some in this area that have closed. Areas like prodigio high-poverty areas. Priscilla tea. Premium health care if estimated by that many corporations to protect their bottom line are dropping retirement health benefits. Retirement packages and of course. Businesses. Friends who have a business. Offer. Bow-tie children abroad. College. Without being british subjects. Our family health policy. Travel. United states. How the poor and the sick of course. And one of the reasons is that. It has been estimated that anywhere between 30 and 40 per-cent of the healthcare dollars go to. Prophet as i've mentioned paperwork. Competitive health plan. Market assumptions about freedom of choice really.. Really have alternative. People who argue incremental steps. Possible problem combined a potential problem. That people worry about in terms of government bureaucracy existence of the private. The private insurance system. To get to an important bottom line. Is based upon how they have to spend. Referred to as the. System of of corporate healthcare. Was on a private basis and people bought fire insurance if your house is burning the fire department would only come if you had insurance policy. Fire protection as one of the social benefits. Police. For elementary school. And of course getting back to the healthcare is a human. Healthcare all really like to be on on that basis to. Okay so two obvious and simple solution to have the money that it takes for healthcare. Through a single source of. And. This single-source therefore has to be one that does not have a conflict of interest. With providing the bet. Necessary intervention. Provide for those of us over 65. Coverage on the medicare system. Provide fire and police. Military education. At least it's all part of the solution. It's one that would say that they would be. End. That would. Get the money. And when they had a medical appointment or hospitalization. That card would. Be relayed to this central. In the world except.. Health providers are employees of the government. Activate fan in the uk. Architect for doctors and nurses mm. Carry alcohol. Canadian system is much more of a private practice model. Wanton witch. Spell professional. Maintains of mary small staff of billing clerk. Who came and got what care. And there are various events in germany. Cradle-to-grave medical care in scandinavian countries in holland. There is. Fundamentals of a. Whatever you want to call it. Universal publicly-funded single-payer healthcare. Every citizen regardless of their income. Pennypack legal record. Portability. People move to from one province to another. Great relief to employers who would not have the kind of problems they have payforit comprehensiveness. A simplicity. It's a book called universal healthcare. Which is the story of canada how canada came to. Divided its planet and its public. New craft witches. Which two books that were written by david himmelstein. Very much concerned part of the health plan. And sometimes in winter by ever increasing. State democratic party. Repeatedly puts on their platform. Association of country has come out with a statement of favorable single-payer healthcare and. To have. Temple administered centrally administered system. But the money we are spending now for the same amount of money. By reducing all the little people. Waist fat in private. Would reach out to the something like. Could you not have any health insurance. Teleperformance cover everyone. American medical association commercials on the radio in the forties and fifties. But anyway. The arguments that are now given is first of all. Include healthcare a government function. So that doesn't really hold up terribly well. Other than we hear that we can't afford it. 12 course one can always lie with with with numbers and i understand that this was a. Forum is. Tomorrow. When we have to say we can't afford it. Human clock. Untreated until it becomes ultimately more expensive. Social chaos since, that results from having family and friends who are. Stomach extra time to fighting the system. Something we can anyway we can afford it anyway. Cutting out. Would more than cover all of things currently uninsured or underinsured. But that rise will be over. Premium. Out of your paycheck. You will not have copay. And you will not have the many situations where you may find that your cure insurance if you could pick lee has a bare-bones population. Well. The answer to that is summed up by himmelstein and will handle. As government politics of the canadian. Cut back on the funding for their national health plan. Hilcorp elective procedures. Morning like this i'm sure you can appreciate it and if you are welcome. Winter in florida. Healthcare in out-of-country. This is the kind of thing i find a very irksome because it says that when a pungent declares something. They have a way of making it a self-fulfilling prophecy. It doesn't have to happen that way. People said that we would have stopped slavery women. And course. I think that whenever you hear someone tell you i want advice to those of you who believe that the importance of. Therefore and so the question is what do we do. Well i think there are. 1 your knowledge or understanding of this. For chatting over the water cooler at work. Thanks some houses that that this or that band-aid. Better. Why it won't and what is the one thing that will will. Become as indispensable to your local legislators as a. There. Whether they're willing to have the courage and the unjust to take a forthright again on a meaningful reform of healthcare. Bye. Around bike. Is. These pressure from constituents to reported as favorably 686 healthcare trust. Legislation sponsors our senator steve coleman. House rep. With something like a dozen centercode sponsors and supporters and 40. Supporter and the bill would create a healthcare truck. It. Replaces all present public and private bureaucracy. Enterprise insurance company appointed by the governor will have representatives from consumers professional can government which will oversee the delivery of healthcare services. Collecting disburse funds for the purpose of providing comprehensive healthcare and negotiator set. Fair and reasonable. They usually are able to do this important. And if you have your phone number and their email. Matt kerr. Aol.com. 8617. They are x-72 37001 and somebody who will be happy to mail you. Whatever information of supporting material. You want and the bill again is s686 and i'll be happy to if you want to come up to me later or. I'll be happy to tell you if your particular representative senators are on the list of sponsors sponsors are co-sponsors and i can't even find healthcare. That matched pair is a coalition of pimping like 20 or 30. The green party jobs with justice. They are struggling at the legislative level to win over more but they also have a. A very. Retired psychiatrist education. And they have educational materials out of course we have a speakers bureau with volunteers like myself. Welcome to other community groups. Speakers. Stopping. You promised you were going to be the first place. And representative harkins. Single-payer in massachusetts. Namely that massachusetts would then become a magnet. For people who would be dependent upon public healthcare coming to reside here and in preference to other states respond to that kind of danger. I think i think there are many other factors that determine where people move. In order to get healthcare but going to move. My own personal trying to find their welcome i wouldn't begrudge them that and maybe that'll also makes the point that other states are to start in acting. A little bit like saying. Because the welfare benefits are better i don't know people who depend on welfare benefits. Do you have any recollection of the gap. Between the the change in saskatchewan and the adoption of a national single-payer system in canada. In my head have it but i think the saskatchewan adoption happened somewhere around the middle of the century. All the other provinces had adopted and there are other states that have here. Random. Reminder patent butter. Factor. But then governor. Oregon. Health insurance companies. What i can only describe as a disinformation campaign. Dirty word.. Answer is making more out of one pocket and a lot less out of the other pocket but certainly. Confident in the health insurance. The pharmacological industry. From happening. But i think. Many managed care companies are finding are not doing that well. And an employer to finding in-person fires quickly big companies are an important ally. No longer afford to supply health insurance and that that. Makes for more problems in recruiting. Another. Forty-five percent. Bankruptcy. Emergency. Are you coming to before that we spend more than any other country on healthcare. Correct. Play the latest numbers are now.. 14%. Once again. And. The study of epidemic of care. Indicates that we spend. An inordinate percentage whatever it is. The population. So there's a real skewing a lot of money on few people. And. The fear. That people have to go why we spending all that money how it's being spent. We're spending a lot of money on some very very cutting-edge. Artificial heart. We all love to watch on tv. Close our eyes to all of the people who are suffering and front having to get. Teeth removed because they can't get basic dental care. The distribution how we spend money is just. Abysmal how do you address that. I don't i don't know quite know what to do about our love affair with with cutting-edge technology frequently basics with people and people call me or what i which i don't take as an insult by the way. Functioning and quality of life going on. Statistics could be in part a function of. The fact that the large majority of people like. Poor and lower-middle-class people who keep the rotting. Don't have access. The source of medical inflation. Credible overpricing of drug. Contribution of these groups and being able to allow everybody to get the caravan. This'll right away start to equalize. More or less we do some of the inequities between the largest percentage of population. Addicted to fancy high-tech surgery or you know. Garelick hydraulic and pointless. My medicine and lie in the last year. Like. A question about payments are imposed. Not so much as a revenue generator but as a method of utilization control. People who are considering proposals. I deal with the problem of mutilation control and what a minimum co-payment. The public representatives on the healthcare account what to do. A lot of people with the old orthodox psychotherapeutic ethics that says. Zoe's motivational issues. The fact that you don't make a co-payment. Something that keeps people away at the night people access2care. So there is no easy answer your question. Well i'm really just inquiring if your organization has a website. We have a we have an email number. And. What. Beretta website. There is a website. Oh yeah yeah okay i'm sorry. i'm i'm i'm not exactly cutting-edge technology person. Mike dukakis his administration. Some type of a healthcare. Map. Which. If i recall correctly. Universal health care. I think. That would repeal after the. Budgetary collapse in the early 90s any of that and whether any of that legislation. I have a feeling that it may exist. Book and it may have. Ignored. Because after all. Universal declaration of human rights. Care. Spectrum. About about healthcare reform. Rather than simply saying okay use the basic principle. And this is what a lot of. Moderate democrat. Our savior. I believe that. Most of the state of emergency. In terms of. Community resources closing in terms of. Colossus health insurance. Put more and more people into more more tragic circumstances and even as one incremental changes taking place. Somebody many many other people who are just. In times of loss of healthcare that they. It would seem to me that one of the problems with. Incremental increase. Access. Made under the present system. Has the effect of adding to overall healthcare costs without doing anything to trim out the identified as being correct as being heavily tied up with paperwork. Prophet never teising. I would think that. Is that it. Actually. To a deeper sense of. Social burden. Associated with healthcare. Without ever pointing toward the the cost-effectiveness. That could be achieved. True of an overall reform. My i think that is a good point that some of the resistance. The population. Other. Add people of feeling oppressed. Economically in other ways. As housing is becoming. College expenses for their kids are going up. Employer employees. Tennessee. Lead to some of the. Ebenefits. I was just going to think you were having a. Unicorn covers everybody you're spreading the risk into your casa going to go down to that reason i think the other thing that we didn't mention press today but we were all assuming. And having to get some control of that too. Free healthcare. The cost of it. Had mentioned. The buses to canada. Or i might purchase a drug. When you have a centralized purchasing of healthcare. In the hands of a nonprofit organization. Number of people that are represented. That unit more bargaining power. So is the drive to drop companies will have to cut their deal. With. Somebody who's going to purchase huge huge amounts to virtually take care of an entire population. As well as. Control the extent to which when i breakthrough new drug comes on the market. I assume and i'm just maybe just hypothesizing that i don't know for sure how how how have this was working and country. That you don't have to worry about the number of years that the copyright on the on the formula will be owned by the brand. I'd like a bigger co-pays on that one than i do for any of the other medicine. Is very heavily tied up then with the. Influence of the insurance industry the drugs and the drug industry. A considerable lingering ambivalence. Among providers. And among. The citizenry has as patient. And concerned about of. A singular bureaucracy is opposed to a dispersed. Bureaucracy. And the obvious fact that the. Would be opposed to this kind of single-payer plan is that correct. More independent. Fortune. Or or people in the medical school. Lowering quality control. Careful preparation careful teaching. I think there's a lot of them wednesday mass medical association. Found it. Healthcare. Reform. Strongly opposed folks. Who were until they finally did published. Richard cena. The providers of madison. Define endorsement a single-payer healthcare. And i think the ambivalence among providers. Colleagues of mine. Because i'm part. Considered. Elective things like psychoanalysis. I think that's changing i think the public if it's. 10. Obviously important economic and human values issues that our society faces and i want to thank you for presenting us with a very articulate. Exposition of one of the major i proposed solutions in the field thanks so very much.

uuneedham_org

20120429_de-installation_john_charge_to_the_minister_john_gibbons.mp3

Alright john. I am here to give. The charge to the minister. Kind of friendly advice. I am reminded therefore of a letter once. Sent it to an advice columnist. Dear. John. I hope you can help me. The other day i set off for work leaving my husband in the house watching the tv i hadn't driven more than a mile down the road when the engine conked out and the car. Shuddered to a halt. I walked back home to get my husband's help. When i got home i leave my eyes in our bedroom with the neighbors daughter. I am. 41 my husband is 44 and the neighbors daughter is 22. We have been married for 10 years when i confronted him he broke down and admitted that they had been having an affair for the past. 6 months. And well this. Letter goes on with a variety of salacious details and then it concludes my husband won't go to counseling and. I'm afraid i can't. Get through to him anymore can you help please. Sincerely. Sheila. Dear sheila responds the advice columnist. A car stalling after being driven a short distance can be caused by a variety of false with the engine start by checking if there is no debris in the fuel line if it is clear check the vacuum pipes and hoses on the intake manifold and also check all grounding wires or it could be that the fuel pump itself is faulty causing delivery pressure to the injectors again there are. Not many more details but it is signed. I hope this helps john. Charging you. Any sort of advice to you is not dissimilar. You are. Faithful to gwen and i have no doubt. But it's charged advise makes any difference whatsoever. Has two words. Brought along this little gift. And it goes like that. Yes you are. Now sort of discharge. In your previous ministries knoxville dallas new york. 25 high holy beacon street. You have accomplished. Great wonderful and lasting things. And. Here as well. When. 10 years ago i. Charged you from this pulpit i charge you to pursue big dreams and. Come up with brand strategies and. Publish a book. And do your thing with the uu service committee and. Get on your cell phone with the sultan of banana fana stan and fulfill that promise. And you have done all of this. In spades. You have grown discharged to the point where it will be a challenge for them. To sustain your legacy. Though they can and. Most certainly will. You have also raised a ton of money. Though i do think that that wyeth family should still give the church just a small painting. For your endowments sake. And you have endowed a buren's fund for. The continuing education of ministers. You have. Raised the bar for this congregation. And turning around new england congregation is. As hard as. Your father would have said turning around a ship. In a shipyard. Easier said than done. You have also published a boat load of books. The times or the christian century or somebody say that understanding the bible was. The most important spiritual guide since gilgamesh or the story of or or something. They really did say something like that. And. Truly and most seriously your service. As chair of the freedom to marry coalition. Has changed. And changed history itself. And i actually want people to applaud. These things are your legacy here john but that is not the biggest story of. Your ministry here in needham. This has i think. Been the best gig of your life. The most intimate. The best opportunity for you to be. The parish ministry you the parish minister. You love to be. And as or more important. To be ministered unto. You have been with these. People and they with you. Through a million. Untold. Stories. Here as well you have been with your parents through their last years and then with them at their deaths. Hear you and gwen have. Celebrated erica and andy's. Wedding and that of mary and anna as well and. The births of isabel. And hannah. And. Beloved as are all the rest. Simon. Here as i charge ten years ago i hope. You have danced with gwen to the music from the big chill. And if you have not i do not charge but i demand. That you do so. Again. Asap. Hear your life has been intertwined in grief and gladness. With the lives of your family. Your own and that of this congregation which has. Benefited not. Only from your perspicacity and area edition but. From your heart. Your kindness. Yourself. Erma bombeck once said. When your mother asks do you want a piece of advice. It is a mere formality it doesn't matter if you answer yes or no you're going to get it anyway. Alright so do you want to charge from me you're going to get it. Anyway. Now. Some sources that shall not be named charge you with. Still living more in this moment. This moment now not that moment then or that moment yet to come. Enlarge your vocabulary a little. Please. And thank you might be welcome additions to your vocabulary. As you are able not to interrupt others. You are already the sharpest knife in the drawer you have nothing. To prove. I think it was. Ernst rauch or possibly otto von bismarck who said. Be glad of the pussycat within. When i was a student of. The uu historian conrad right he said. If i repeat myself. I repeat myself. And therefore john i am going to end as i did ten years ago because. Well because you're a slow learner. I charge you to enjoy the life you share with gwen and your family. Dude dance to that. Big chill. I charged you john. This time to be gentler with yourself and not be constantly. Truly i charge you to experience the fullness of who you truly are. John. I. Charge you to go away. Or as barbara would say to. Waukon. And let god. Touch these people. Jahnai. Charge you to. Go away. Waukon. And let god touch you. And. Check that there's no debris in the fuel line check the pipes and hoses and grounding wires and fuel pump. And. Go away. Waukon. Can do so gladly. Enlight. Of your good. Ministry here. Thank you for the. Privilege. Being your colleague. Member of your larger congregation. And.

uuneedham_org

20110508_arise_women_of_this_day_molly_sermon.mp3

I was somewhere in my tweens. When my mother first informed me. I am not the center of the universe. For those of you who haven't heard this new term tweens are the two or three years between childhood and full-blown teenager dumb. Better off and disorienting for tween and parents alike. I think i had just finished telling her how she was ruining my life. Possibly for telling me that no i was 12 and i couldn't go see an r-rated movie even if i had friends who were. Or. That i had to clean my room. Again. Life. Ruins. I'm sure that if i'm a mother someday i will. Reap the karmic reward of such histrionics. But it was during one of these arguments. Set my mom lets slip the secret of maturity. Do you know molly. One day you will learn that you are not the center of the universe. I was scornful i know i'm not the center of the universe mom. My behavior clearly continue to contradict my words. It needed saying though. And i count myself blessed that my mom was there to say it. This past week i've been wondering who is going to say it to us all. A week ago our president walks the long haul at the east wing of the white house. Let us know that osama bin laden had been killed in pakistan. Upon hearing the news i felt a whole swirl of things. Relief. Gladness. Dismay at my gladness. Fear of reprisal. Confusion. I know we must have all experienced that moment very differently. I can only imagine that those most closely affected by his atrocities. Felt a far more intense swirl a feeling than i. So i was not surprised to see footage of crowds flooding the streets outside the white house. Or to hear about the crowds in new york. For here in boston. What can you do with such a bursting squirrel of feeling but take it out into the open space. But as i heard shouts. Have usaa usaa ringing out across the white house lawn i began to feel increasingly disconcerted. What did it mean for a killing. To be met with the same shouts one might hear at a world cup soccer game. Play human beings death. Really be celebrated as a cause for national pride. Or was i just hearing a different embodiment of what i too was feeling relief. And yes gladness. Set a symbol of terror that has haunted our national psyche for a decade. It's finally gone. But he can't hurt anyone anymore. I came of age in this past decade. I know from my most formative years have the events of september 11th permanently changed our country and our collective way of being in the world. I remember the national feeling of loss. And sorrow and terror and rage which perhaps has still not left us. But as i sit and watch the jubilant celebration. I'm a terrible evil man. I also hear a whisper down the years from my mom. We are not the center of the universe. Here in the united states. Neither was osama bin laden the center of the universe. In the world of terror. Are suffering mirrors whole world full of suffering ended laden's death. Will not end terror. I can only pray that it will not increase terror. But i fear that our celebrations might counteract that prayer. Personifying evil in one man only limits our ability to address larger forces of evil present and active in our societies all over the. The world. As our nation celebrate. Are weary soldiers will fight on in afghanistan. Innocent civilians will continue to die in libya and many other places. Children will continue to go hungry everywhere. Disarm disarm cause julia ward howe down the ages. The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. No matter what relief it brings the violent death. I've been laden does not give lasting justice. To those who have lost. Northshore our nation as a whole. True justice is a world without terror. True justice. Is a world at peace. I do not suggest that we mourn the death of osama bin laden but neither let us celebrate it. Instead let us follow the word. Ivar for mother julia how. Let us meet first as human being. 2bwell and commemorate the dead. Our dad. And the dead around the world. Those thousands dead by the hand of the bin laden and his network of terrorists. And those thousands dead by our own war. On terror. And then. She continues let us solemnly take counsel with each other. As to the means whereby the great human family can live at peace. Finally. Only then. An only together. Will true justice be found. God knows none of us has an easy 10-step plan to this piece that's. Julia speaks of. Our contemporary global situation is far too complex for simple answers. But this mother's day. I find a few clues in her mother's day proclamation. The first is this no matter how tangled and messi are the many global problems that contribute to war and violence. We have to take the possibility of peace. Seriously. Is not just a call from. Hippies and hipsters a college students. Is not just the work. Of those devoted activist among us. We must take. The possibility of peace seriously each of us. Julia 41 is deadly serious. Arise women of this day she says our husbands will not come to us reeking with carnage for crevasses and applaud our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have taught them a charity mercy and patience. That is some fierce. Seriousness. We must find that fierceness as well. Taking peace seriously needs holding onto hope. Even as we look out and see violence on ending. We must still hold the world the vision of the world we want. For children's children's children. Or else we're doomed before we have even begun. In a sense this is a completely buffet. The world has never proved to us that lasting peace is possible. But what are we here for if not to try and make it so. We must fan those flames of hope. Carried by those we have named today who inspire us. We must be bearers of the light. In an episode of a public radio documentary radiolab from 2009. We hear a journalist informally pulling people in the streets of hoboken new jersey. His question is this will humans ever stop fighting wars once and for all. He asked dozens of people and nine out of 10. 90%. Say no. We will never stop fighting wars. But here's something interesting. He goes on to tell us than in the 1980s. People answered the question differently. 30 years ago one and three people. Thought war would end someday. Why do we change our minds. Perhaps ten-year-old wars in iraq and afghanistan contribute to today's cynicism. Perhaps the economic doldrums. Read to the diminishment of hope all around. Maybe our pessimism came in along with the fear of terrorism on our home soil. Or maybe optimism and pessimism move through regular cycles nationally. But what i take from this anecdote is the point if the question is not decided once and for all. Hope can grow or diminish just as peace can. I hope grows if we make it so. The factors affecting the presence or absence of peace are complicated. But the choice to hold up hope is not. We have to choose it. Choose to be stubbornly. Fiercely. Seriously hopeful. The second clue from julia ward house proclamation is that in order to create this peaceful world we seek we must engage with each other at deep and visionary levels. We need to create that great an earnest day of council she suggests. Just this morning i heard political scientist seth jones of georgetown university. Arguing that what we need most right now. It's conversation. Diplomacy and negotiation. Jimmy. This suggests that each and everyone of us must see the necessity for global engagement. And must dedicate ourselves to multiculturalism. The more we understand about each other. The more meaningful i dialogue can become. And today's technology has made this engagement easier than ever just yesterday i chatted online with a friend about her studies in africa. We have so much to learn from one another. I actually think this is a point. Where unitarian universalism has an important message for the world. Last week i was talking with our parenting your children group. About how we express our unique religious identity. And many of us agree that one of the reasons we choose to be part of a yu-gi-oh community. Is to live together. The idea that difference is enriching. Rather than threatening. As the children in our religious education program could certainly tell you we seek to learn from many different cultures. For sure we don't always do this perfectly too often we are willing to learn from any culture but the ones closest to us. But we do professor thief value of difference. And in our religious community. Here. We can hold one another accountable to that. Loving difference does not always come naturally to human beings we are often tribal creatures. But it is our willingness to engage with one another. Undefined. Mutual understanding. That makes. Peace possible. For this reason the celebration of difference as enriching and sacred is a saving message of our faith. We need to live that message better. We need to proclaim it louder. And so on this mother's day for peace. As citizens of a nation still at war. Imagine with me. That god is a woman. And she is getting older. Imagine the love and wonder with which she has gazed into each and every one of our many colored and shaped and size faces. You know the look. You've received more than one such case and probably given a few yourself. How can being so precious. I saw the love. Kill and be killed. Would that we could see all of god's children through her eyes. Could see the potential for good glowing inside. Even in those darkened by fear and hate. And layers of action. I want so much to know that that glow is there. Another look we all know perhaps better than we'd like. It's a look of a mother figure who is disappointed. Who is heartbroken at losing a dream for us that we didn't want or couldn't meet. Jokes about various religious traditions mothers and guilt aside. Imagine that god is a woman. And she is getting older. She knows the incredible capacity for love that she bore in us. The enormity of which few of us. Ever truly discover. And she is weeping. Weeping for all that we could have been. But then imagine. She stopped sleeping. She gets up and goes to the phone to call us. Call us back to ourselves. Because it is not too late. Whether we are all children of the same mother god growing older. Or descended from one, nate. Or bubblings off of one great force of creativity. It is time we came home. None of us is center of the universe. But together we make up an entire universe of connection. Annette made stronger by the difference woven in. Let us come home to that. Let us remember it and proclaim it. We have wandered far from where we could be. As humans we have created wars and famines and tragedies of all kind but hope. Is never lost while light-bearers walk among us. We can still come home. To that better world of our vision. The god who is old. The god who is peace. Who is a vision of justice. Is there waiting for us. Aching for us. And she has lit. Millions of candles. To guide the way.

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20130331_0192_easter_who_is_jesus_mark.mp3

Good morning. This is what i say. I believe that jesus was a righteous person a wise rabbi a loving man. There is life and his teachings he showed us. The divinity of humanity. And the human face of the divine. The following his model we can come to realize a kind of heaven on earth. We're love triumphs over all out. For me the story of his resurrection is a metaphor meant to encourage us to renew the best in ourselves. And strive to become those divine beings we are meant to be. I haven't always believe this and i may not believe it in the future. In fact. Like many of you i've been a skeptic and seeker most of my life. I was raised in the church taught that the resurrection of jesus. With everything. His death and rebirth racine is literally. Literal events that saved humanity. Through him was z. The one and only path to heaven. But only if you believe this with all your heart. If you did. Then you would be asked to testify to witness in front of the congregation that you believe that jesus was the savior. And you get baptized. That's an adult. Perhaps it was lucky that i was the young person's ad and our church require you to be 16 before baptized. It's allowed my skeptical nature to take over. My doubts to grow my courage to rise. I thought out more reasonable answers. Search within myself to explore different path. Until i came to find. In universalist unitarian theology. Kind of more reasonable. More credible answer about jesus. I became a universalist first. I didn't know the term. I could buy into the idea that only people i couldn't buy into the idea that only people who profess that jesus was their own personal savior we get to go to heaven. It just didn't seem fair. It didn't jive with a loving god would sacrifice his earthly son. Was it all just to save a few. What are my parents who weren't church-going folks. They dropped me my sister off it's sunday and i don't know what they did for that hour. What about my dear friend mona javeria and her family. Who live down the street. Andhra hindu. We god really deny these good people entrance to heaven. If jesus died to save people i thought. He died to save all people. Later a seeker i left my church and its teachings behind. And came after some time to the writings of early unitarian. Who helped me the frame i sent to the inseparable link between divinity and humanity. And their words and their actions. I found a comfortable place for my skepticism. To set down and flourish. I came to see jesus is one of many blessed and gifted people whose work helped to create a world that can. If we work at it. Great potential. His life is teaching anybody's death conserve to ignite our passing. And inspire our faith in the blessedness of life on earth. What i say is. Was one of the first grade. Humanists. And what about all of you as you celebrate this easter morning. Please think about these personal perspectives that we shared with you here. How do you answer this question. How do you insert today. Tomorrow. How do you talk about it with your children. Or your parents. Your friend. What does the life and death of jesus of nazareth mean and how might it or might not play a role in your own spiritual life. A religious practice. What do you say.

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20130331_0192_easter_who_is_jesus_readers.mp3

Jesus was born in a stable far from home. His parents had to travel for miles and miles just to pay their taxes. They were afraid the baby would be born on the way. And when they arrived in bethlehem it was time and they couldn't find another place to stay. The story says an angel saying glory to god in the highest when he was born. And it shepherd's left their sheep to see the baby. Even kings brought gifts from far away. Even as a child jesus seems special and smart. At age 12 he was teaching in the jewish temple as a young man he preached a new and different kind message about god and love and community. Get many followers and went through village to village teaching and preaching. Others believed he. He was loved by his followers but others found his ideas dangerous and thought he should be silenced. At the time of passover jesus made his way to jerusalem as was the custom for all jews at the time. It was truly a festive time when he arrived it was obvious. On the first night of the passover seder as jesus was sharing a meal with his friends. He knew there was some who wanted him dead. Later that night one of his so-called friends. His other friends were so scared. Then bad things happen quickly. His captors held the trial which was. He was sentenced to die on a cross. He died in this horrible way the next day. His followers were heartbroken and scared most of them were hiding from the authorities but on the next day jesus's mother and a few other women went to the tomb where they were shocked to find it empty did someone steal his body. What could have happened. Some believe jesus actually came back to life. They said it was a sure sign that jesus was the messiah that they had been waiting for.

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20101107_worth_and_dignity_peterrichardson_sermon.mp3

In 1961. When you get a chance universalist association was formed. These words were adopted as one of the purposes of the association. To affirm defend and promote the supreme where it's every. Human personality the dignity of man. And the use of the democratic method in human relationships. The supreme where is pine. Came from the universalist. Who adopted a resolution back in 1935. The dignity part i suspect was inserted by the unitarian. 1984 the principal was shortened that's always good to shortly sayings. To read in these words. We covenant or furman furman. The inherent worth. And dignity of every. Person. The early universe listen to 1700. Believe that god would save everyone. And that there was no alternative places. Replace like hell. Logically if god found worth and every person we should. The opposite of worse than. Is something like hopeless. Original sin. For example with a hopeless doctrine. And every other christian religion at that time believe. And it's it's still. In the crates and confessions donut widely still really believe. But dignity has a wider. Use. It is on the preamble and again in route. An article 1. Universal declaration of human rights. The baseline standard around the world. Since the organization of the united nations. The opposite of the word dignity is something like humiliation as we have seen. In the first song. And. In the first reading. Humiliation. For example when you're conqueror people you should treat them with respect. Not enslave them. Call bulldozer houses. Or humiliate them if they try to go about their day-to-day lives. After world war 1 we humiliated the german. Niacin. And we got a hitler to deal with a decade or so later. So when you negotiate with a weaker party. It is why. To give them. To give them. Idignity. I'm out. Give them a chance to recover their lives again. The big breasted rehab two-face in this. 21st century. Is simply stated at least. Do we really feel this principle. Is viable today. The history of the last century alone is so pervasively contrary. So what extent can we get more than lip service to this principle. Whispers principal. The inherent worth. And dignity. Hope every. Person. We have here a radical the principle of recent origin. It's post. Western enlightenment post-renaissance post-reformation post locking newton and tan. Inherent worth. And dignity. The first principle is as radical as the words of jesus. And what's in line with him. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Your love stretches beyond your own tried to embrace everyone. How widespread is this principle. 2000 years later. When you look at the master nations of the past week. For example. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. How much more frail that is the inherent worth and dignity. Whatever other speaker different language. Practice a different religion. Address for. Celtic or deserve to be poor. It is commonly believed in a society that the rich. Deserve to be rich. And the poor deserve to be poor. Somehow they missed the boat. Current lazy needed to wear need to work harder. This contrary belief i suspect goes back almost as far as our worth and dignity. A principal. To colonial times when europe with carving out vast territories of colonial expansion. Thomas malthus wrote. What it called a scientific document. Claiming that populations outgrow resources for food in support. Therefore some should grab all they can. To improve their chances for survival and prosperity. Then along came child siren with it with his new rules of biological evolution natural selection. Species. Adapt to. Find maximum. Advantage. Not long after darwin herbert spencer and others invented. Social darwinism. The idea that human society should be a survival of the fittest. That's the rich and powerful are doing something good and the poor and exploited are losing out in the survival steak. And that is natural and right. Quickly the imaginations of colonialism felt. Vindicated. And the lords of industry in finance. Felt the devil take the hindmost attitudes with socially redeemable. Social darwinism of course. Is not supported by the principles of evolutionary biology. Darren did not support it. Nor has the subsequent development of the biological sciences. But it is a powerful. Etiology today. It's powerful as it ever was. Endorsed by over half our politicians. And by widespread attitudes and assumptions. In the general population. When you add in issues of immigration. Issues of living in debt. Look at the behavior bankers who would rather play the lotteries of finance. Send invest in manufacturing. And the weak and vulnerable startup entrepreneurs. And answer the bank is criminals out there in the largest prison population in the world. So it's plenty of evidence. To work with if you want to believe. Set the rich. Versus the rest of us. I'm engaged in a war of the fittest. And deserve a face. Sherman is assumed have a great deal more worth. Then others. And dignity where is that human dignity. In a dog-eat-dog world. We got a steady barrage of bad news. Global warming. Democratic institutions that no longer work. Students voted on the internet who commit suicide. Domestic violence increasing in an economic recession. The mortgage or death. Gage crisis. Torture in a so-called terrorist prisons. Rapes murders. Elections where people vote against the run interest. So how fast is an enlightenment. Inherent worth and dignity of every. Person. Can we honestly say i'm a ghost here. His first principal travels in our hearts. Dated a hour an hour. Well let's look at that original sin idea again. That hopeless stockton. So pervasively believe. Even now. There's a family story. Of my wife elena and her mother kathy. When eleanor was in her arms. When elena was in infants. It was a party and then came kathy with elena. Discussion with uncle warren was on original sam. He was an episcopalian and kathy of course. A unitarian. Send a member here. Kathy held baby eleanor up and ask. How can you call this innocent child. Whereupon. Eleanor. Let out a cry. In fact let out a whole series of them. Kick their little legs. And kathy beat a fast retreat. For michael warren and the argument. Itself. So that is but that is not original sin is it. That is nature. Not nature red in tooth and claw either. But rather nature hungry. Uncomfortable. Ps andres he's at the core of all existing things. That reminds me i forgot them. Announce to him. Now that's a beautiful him. Maybe you can sing it some other time. But the first line is a fierce unrest seized at the coralville existing things. It is not good or bad. Evenly infant. Shall we say long's the better times for better circumstances a better life. Dare we say it longs for love. But good relationships. For a good society. Let us look at what biological evolution really says. About. Are human history. We are social animals. Like wolves elephants monkeys. Chimpanzee. We thriving social group. We are raising families we have had of a local tribe or community. We are from infancy in covenant with others. It's a fact of nature. We are not trapped at first out somewhere to fend for ourselves. We gained our very identity from our relationships for my commitments. From the infantry receive from friends near or in society. I am the larger world that informs and sustains us. The idea that the world is against us. And we against it. Said we live in a live or die competition with others. From an early age. That idea is aetiology is simply false. Let's say for a minute though. That it could be that way that humans are meant to be at war with everyone else. Sort of like the so-called. Reality shows on tv. Let's say one of our main purposes in life is to vote someone out of the family every week. Put yourself back in history a million years or so. Out in the savannas of africa. In the tall grass. In the land of zebras hyenas lion. Who is going to survive very long in that environment who is not cooperative. The wonders are furloughed. Who does not come to the aid of others when needed. We are here because generation after generation over countless generations. We did have. Consideration for our neighbors. We did not even have to think about our neighbors. We were apart of them and they were a part of us. The wanderer by yourself. Even the picture of tent out of hearing of the group. Almost always meant certain death. We survived in our evolution to a corporation. And not through selfishness and so-called self-interest. In fact every now and then when there was an individual who is not generous. And cooperative. An apparent person recorded more than their share. A fake was isolation. And an early demise. The south said it did not survive. Over millions of years. Do babies cry because. In the wisdom of morality. It is a foregone conclusion that the needs. Will be cared for. Otherwise in the long grass the sound would bring the lion. It is very recently in the last three hundred three thousand years or so that the individual person. Emerge. As a separate independent entity apart from the social context. But not too far apart. But most of all time. The inherent worth and dignity of every. Person. It is an extremely young concept. Are the greeks and romans the word person or persona. Mint one who played a certain role in society. And had only writes appropriate to that role. You put on a mask at an early age. And that was your life. The idea in the english language that a person is an individual. That you could in yourself. Be a self-governing individual. Mac out a life for yourself. That kind of idea came into usage in the 17th century. That was about the time the pilgrims landed in plymouth. Yes indeed that whole community huddle together in a single house. About a hundred of them. For the better part of a year. Then they built a group of little houses husted close together in a village. It was a long time before any pilgrim walked off into the woods. Fareway in filter a cabin in splendid isolation. It was not safe. In the early years. But more importantly it did not occur to anyone to do that. To be a pilgrim. Meant to work together. Discorporate with each other. The covenant together. In a mayflower compact. Difference in plant and eat and pray together in community. The so-called rugged individual is a recent invention. The word individual. With not in the dictionary. It was a best distance. A very recent aberrations to move from an intimate community to a world of social darwinism. A world where everyone looks out for themselves. In sickness and in health. You are on your own. And the devil take the hindmost. Let the poor and those without access to healthcare i can somehow. Somehow deserve that fake. Set the rich and comfortable somehow alone at deserving. Entitled. Indeed. Has eye song a little bit later. We are a gentle and loving people. Is it obsolete.

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20160306_0405_catie_queen_sermon.mp3

Every year on the 14th day of the month of adar jewish communities around the world celebrate purim a joyous holiday and honor of an unlikely hero. Let me share with you that story of how a young jewish girl's courage saved her people. From the evil intentions of a royal vizier. Over 100 years the jewish people of judah had been living in exile from their homeland and by the 5th century they were ruled by the persian empire. Brenda king from the city of susa in what is now iran king ahasuerus reigned. Bruce me to pronounce that differently i bet he actually looked up how to pronounce his name. And we don't need esther until chapter 2. Because in chapter 1 of the book of esther we have to learn by there's an opening for the position of queen. We meet king of xerus. Who has spent the last half a year partying with his chief advisors and military leaders. The king is never described as being shrewd or sober. On one such festive evening the king orders his wife queen vashti to appear before his assembled guests wearing the royal crown. Biblical commentators read between the lines of this passage the king was asking his wife to come before a crowd of inebriated men wearing only. Her royal crown. And in defiance of the kings superior position queen vashti refuses. She'll not be belittled is an object of drunken male gaze. Rusty's respect for her own dignity is one of the many reasons scholars declare the book of esther a feminist tale. But the king is shocked. Is it bothers counsel him to make an example of vashti they say to the king and i quote the noble ladies of persia and media who have heard of the queen's behavior will rebell against the kings officials and look with contempt upon their husbands and there will be no end to the contempt and wrath. And so the king sends vashti into exile and post letters to all the royal provinces to every people in its own its own language declaring that every man should be master of his household. The context that came out of zarus is a disrespectful intoxicated dictatorial husband were not supposed to follow what he says. It's our first lesson from the book of esther that's only heathens would have such left-sided marriages that degrade one spouses honor. This first chapter tells us the readers that the hazardous is a poor leader and a bad husband. And the patriarchy of the culture only makes him worse. And only then are we introduced to the appendice esther. His foster father mordecai has arranged for her to interview with scores of other young women to become king ahasuerus has. New queen. We the readers know that mordecai and esther are jews in diaspora. Instructs esther to keep her true ethnicity and religion a secret. And 4:02 persian. Esther complies with mordecai's request and she is chosen. To replace vashti. For esther is very beautiful. And very. Docile. Dr. michael d fox a professor of hebrew bible rides esther's early years are distinguished by passivity and pliancy. She is introduced to the reader as an object of mordecai's action. She was of course dutifully obedient to him and his plan. In modern scholarship esther has been criticized for compliance and even opportunism and going along with her interview with the king. But of course she had no choice. Obedience was esther's duty. And the persians had already proved rather unhinged when it came to female freedom of choice. Professor fox continues in consequence of her. The facility everyone likes her. She's been taken to the king and it is no surprise that he loves her as well. She has vashti is beauty but not her willfulness. So far esther has nothing been nothing more than sweet and pretty hardly a person you would expect to be capable of shouldering her people's face and engineering it's salvation. And this is important. Ester is characterized as an unassuming obedience teenager who follows the orders of her foster father and then of her new husband. Have you ever felt perceived this way. Unassuming obedience. Or is fox road hardly a person. So would be expected to be capable of shouldering a peoplespace. An engineering it's salvation. Let's not spoil the whole story but it's suffice to say that esther doesn't stay so clients. And that is our second lesson from her story. Even those we don't expect to amount to much perhaps including ourselves they still have the seeds of great compassion great thoughtfulness and great courage within. Esther's character developments the scripture makes this point loud and clear. Given favorable conditions and inner resolve all people are capable of shouldering a people's fate and engineering it's salvation. After esther's enthronement is queen the story jumps ahead of few years when mordecai creates some trouble for himself and for all of the jewish people by refusing to bow to the villain of our story haman. The evil advisor to king ahasuerus because of mordecai's insubordination heyman convinces the king to hang mordecai. And to slaughter all the jewish people. Bruce already told us about this in the reading. Did you notice in that reading that esther didn't even know. Ever foster-father is transgression or the edicts that threatened her people even though she was queen. Jesus sending unit out of the castle to find out what all the fuss was about. Our third lesson from esther. When we're in a privileged position it's easy to overlook or ignore the problems of those. And marginalize. Place. How many times have we collectively or individually ignored the sec cloth and ashes of a different community. But we stayed happy and healthy and our own castles. How do we ensure as unitarian poetry cummings phrased it that the eyes of our eyes are open. To see that our royal lives are not enjoyed by all. Suppose we have to send a unicorn. As we heard about in our reading esther was understandably cautious about mordecai's request because king ahasuerus had the right to kill any person. Two appeared in his courtroom without an invitation. Furthermore the king that esther was jewish. She was successfully passing as persian and reaping the benefits of this dominant culture mask. Esther had a hard choice. To retain her own physician or to expose herself. Secure safety for her people. Unitarian universalist minister reverend erica barron rice. Esther faces this moment of unmasking a moment where true identity must be revealed to accomplish some great purpose. Taking initiative in her case is dangerous. Reverend baroness. When do we face moments that call for great courage. How do we respond. Are there are moments when we decide to proceed. Even if the probable consequence is something unspeakable. What do we put on the line. In the pursuit of truth and justice. To write great wrongs. Or just to be true. To ourselves. As we ponder such questions about ourselves we can look to esther for inspiration. How did she respond to this moment requiring great courage. Esther. Clarified her concerns. She learned as much as she could about the situation. And then she fasted. A spiritual preparation for thoughtful planning and courageous action went on one zone and. All the more fulfilling. When a whole community in esther's case the fellow jews of susa. Are fasting in solidarity. Here's our fourth lesson. We all face moments when we are challenged to be vulnerable. And risk ourselves for a larger justice in breaking stereotypes in a line with those in danger. It's simply living our own truth. Spiritual practice especially within a community of loved ones. Can help us shore our courage up. And after a time of fasting esther does appear before the king. Can you imagine the scene. All of his invited advisors and military leaders all those powerful persian men including the evil haman. And esther. Projected her finest royal robes and standing tall like a tree rooted in her face and reaching out toward. Protection for her people. And perhaps quaking on the inside knowing she may sacrifice her life. Pursuing her people's safety. Eyes dark between the queen and the kings golden scepter if he raises its she is forgiven for the offense and invite it in. But if the scepter says lowered. She is to be killed. A king has harassed has raised his scepter and touches esther with it. She is forgiven. Mordecai charged esther to ask the king about the eat it right away. Baby right there in that courtroom surrounded by all of these advisors. But after her spiritual preparation esther has a better plan. She knows that the king has loved her ever since they first met and she has gotten to know him quite well too. Sochi capitalizes on their long-standing relationship before asking him for anything. Our fifth lesson. Change is always more easily accomplished when there is a loving respectful relationship between people and communities. And esther decides to butter king ahasuerus up with the one thing he loved best. A feast. Do you even invite aim into this big party to throw off any suspicion. I can't have service is so taken with her offering her anything that she desires including half of his kingdom. And that's when she makes her request. If i have one your favor okay and if it pleases the king let my life be given to me. That is my petition and the lives of my people that is my request. The king and i imagine him into our confused by this. The king asks who is this enemy. Who is presumed to do this. And esther reveals her jewish identity and names heyman and his edict. As what would end her life. And her people. I imagine the king and his advisor are summoned. I should mention an interesting part of the scriptural texts here. It is in this chapter that the text stops referring to esther as just esther. And instead as queen esther. The king agrees to change the edicts and he is not happy with haman. Instead of mordecai and haman requested it is haman who is hanged and mordecai even takes his place as a new chief advisor. Dr. sidney white crawford is a hebrew bible scholar and she writes the purpose of the book of esther is to demonstrate to jews living in exile that it is possible to achieve success in the country of one's exile. Without giving up one's identity as a jew. In this the book of esther is similar to the books such as daniel and tobit however the book of esther is unique. The protagonist of the book and the one with whom the audience should identify is a woman. This choice of a female hero serves an important function in the story. Women were in the world of the persians he asked for a as in many other cultures even today. Essentially powerless and marginalized members of society. Even if they belong to the dominant culture they could not simply reach out and grasp our as a man could. In this sense the exiled you could identify with the women. He or she was essentially powerless and marginalized to. And power could only be obtained through one's wits and talents. As the actions of esther demonstrate this can be done. Our second to last lesson from the book of esther. Or identity is our true selves may make us vulnerable. They are also a source of great power. Especially when leverage. In relationship. In what ways do you identify with esther. How are you in exile. Living here. In metrowest in the united states. Maybe even in this. Church. In what way is can your courage and claiming your identity as worthy. Help close the gap. Between yourself. And the dominant culture. Bruce asked me this as i was walking down the aisle do you know how the book of esther ends. Read the book. No alright. So you dirty thing cuz over there safe mordecai's she was great it's not great. So you may remember. But i said that the king agreed to change the e-text to slaughter the jews a king cannot revoke his onetox. So queen esther convinces him that the jew should be allowed to kill any person who intended to kill them. On the day of the edith thousands of persians are slaughtered. And then the story ends. I'm reminded of what we learned last month. What are scene was beloved community. From the reverend doctor martin luther king junior who popularized the term beloved community we remember that the goal of social movements of the oppressed like the civil rights movement in the poor people's campaign. The goal was not to dominate privileged people as privileged people dominated them. No beloved community required ending adversarial relationships and instead replacing social hierarchy and discrimination with love. Forgiveness. And deep understanding. This obviously did not happen in ancient susa between the persians and the jews. And this is our final lesson from esther. But even courageous heroes rising up and righteousness. Can be negatively influenced by the ways of the oppressor. It is up to us to discern when we are acting as brave esther. Or identity marginalized our courage required to survive. And when we are acting as influenced esther. Turning into the oppressor as we strive for change. If we can succeed in such discernment we can become a queen esther in our own right. You are each and all. Unique. Precious. So you are as reverend everett hale wrote only one. But still we can do something. And we are not refuse to do the something we can do. Have you sometimes forgotten. Your inherent worth and dignity. Your inheritance royalty. Your call and your gifts to make the world a more loving just. Place. Have you forgotten that you are a queen. You and you. And you. Perhaps your whole life. Has been preparing you for such a time as this. When you. Are deeply needed. Unitarian universalist layperson eric williams rights. The world is too beautiful to be praised by only one voice. May we have the courage to seeing our parts. The world is too broken to be healed by only one set of hands. May we have the courage to use our gifts. Busby. And amen.

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20120819_wiley_a_uu_story_sermon.mp3

Well hello everybody. As phil said earlier my name is kenny wiley. And i am about to start my second year at harvard divinity school. I'm also going to be the intern minister or the. Ministerial intern at first parish in cambridge. And i'm pretty good friends with christian schmidt and. So i'm really happy to be. At his church and two. Be with all of you today. A little bit back right about me i grew up. Unitarian universalist in houston texas and have been inactive you you. For all my life. So as i said i'm really honored to be with all of you this morning. Begin with a story. And that story is that when i was eight. My mom taught me how to play chess. Chest for those of you who don't play. Is a complex strategic game. In order to win a chest one needs to be able to move and see. Several moves ahead. My mom thought that i would be well served to learn the game. She called it the game of life. I think she was right. So my mom taught me how to play how the knights move the rules of castling and more. Or explanation that grabbed me most of all was when she said. The queen was the most powerful piece. The queen. If you know can move nearly all over the board. And is very tough to stop. Do for a few weeks she and i works on the rules of chess. We simulated situations and practice. One day she said okay son you're ready. Let's play. So we did. And she won. We played again a few days later. And she won't again. For weeks and weeks she. Woodwind. We would play and she would win. All she did was when. Obviously i didn't like that very much. Why couldn't i win. So few days after my 9th birthday. In a mil in the middle of another blowout loss. My mom stopped and asked me. What's a one piece on the board. I said the queen. She shook her head. I said what the queen is the most powerful piece if you get the queen i won't be able to win. She looked at me like mufasa looked at simba in the lion king. And i knew. Important life lessons coming. She said son the only piece on the board you can't lose is your king. Not your queen. The reason you can't beat me is because you won't use your queen. You have a piece that can do almost anything but you won't use it. You're getting really good at chest. But you're going to come up short. Until you learn to use your most powerful weapon. You're afraid to lose. And so you don't use your queen. But guess what if you don't use your queen. You're going to lose anyway. I bring my mother's chess lesson. And the words of professor booty to harry potter. Hear the first parish today because. Life can sometimes feel like a tough game of chess. Maybe even like several simultaneous chess games. Sometimes it even feels like we have to get past the terrifying dragon. Has harry did in our reading. Take another listen. I'm just going to give you some good general advice moody said. And the first bit is. Play to your strengths. I haven't got any said harry before he could stop himself. Excuse me ground moody. You got strength if i say you got them. Think now. What are you best at. Harry tried to concentrate. What was he best at. Well that was easy really. It's been a weird summer. For me. And for a lot of us i think first parish. I was talking with my good friend anna about coming here today to preach. And how i was really excited. But also a bit sad. And i have known each other since i wired you you are youth group here in unitarian universalism. Since those days. And she's been there during some tough times and vice versa. The story i told about my mother in the queen piece. It's a little bit hard for me. Because my mom died of illness last year. We were very close and i miss her greatly. But for some reason it's been particularly bad the past couple of weeks. Perhaps some of you can relate to missing someone like that. I mention it because in my sadness i have been reaching back to that conversation. She and i had when i was 89. About my fear of using. And losing. My best piece my queen piece if you will. And so my friend anna suggested that i preached to you this morning from that feeling of mingled sadness and joy. End up missing her. Enjoyed sharing her wisdom. Rather than pretending like it isn't there. It's often said that good ministers preaching sermons they need to hear. And while i'm not yet a minister. I'm not sure about the good part either. I know i'm preaching this because it helps me in the unlikeliest of waze. I also think this queen piece idea. Is needed for our religious movement. Because there's something profound a happening in our faith. Across the country and indeed across the world. More than ever unitarian universalist are taking stands. The reproductive rights different struggles for equality. Immigration. Perhaps some of you went to or followed online the justice you general assembly out in phoenix this june. Maybe this is your first time at church and you don't know what that means. Somebody will be glad to help you out. But there is something happening in our faith. No longer are people content to stand idly by. While fellow human beings are being mistreated. Or undervalued. We've identified that their issues we'd like to work on. Things we want to tackle. We are to use my mother's example. Part trying to play some difficult games of chess. Just how do we stand up and help out. When we see something wrong. How do we have the courage to do something about it. My mother's advice about using my queen piece. And professor moody's advice about playing to my strength. Came to my aid in a bizarre and troubling incident i had the summer. Summerview have maybe even read about this. Since the facebook note i wrote about it went internet viral. Particularly in the youth community. And became an op-ed in the boston globe last month. So about a month ago. I was running through harvard square at night where i live. To try to catch a bus. I was wearing backwards my houston texans football hat. The cosby show t-shirt. And khaki shorts. Add a bag with my undergrad logo from the university of missouri. I wasn't spreading but at least for me i was moving pretty quickly. And i passed a group of four strangers who looked around 18 something like that. Heather ran by one of the guys a white guy shouted out. Hey bro you running from the cops or something. At a woman added. Would you steal this time. I thought surely i didn't hear right so i stopped and turned around. And i asked are you kidding me. Really. The group steam tipsy and unapologetic. We're just messing around man once said. Another sad while we saw black guy running at night so why wouldn't you say that. The exchange quickly grew heated. With me trying to explain to them. Why their comments. And statements were inappropriate. They weren't having any of it. They told they refused to understand why their words were pensive. They told me to lighten up. Take a joke. And so after minute or two rather than fight physically. I just walked onto the station. And caught a later bus. So this probably goes without saying but that wasn't much fun. And i don't think my reaction was perfect or anything and trust me and then. Month or so since i've thought of lots of things i really wish i'd said moment. But i do think that in that frustrating situation where i was profiled and heckled. I did use my queen piece. In this case my queen piece was my unitarian universalist faith. Itself. It would have been a really bad idea for me to physically confront them or lose control. For one i think violence should we use israeli as possible i believe they comes from this face. And of course. Me attacking a group of white people at night. Probably not it would have turned it probably would not have turned out well for me if past history is any indication. And as i wrote about in the op-ed about the incident. It was my faith that kept me from being too upset. That was my favorite allowed me to maintain perspective. And ultimately write something that impacted lots of people. To quote from the peace. As it was in the boston globe. My unitarian universalist faith teaches me that every person has inherent worth of dignity. Every person matters. And every person has some good in them. I don't hate these four strangers who loudly suggested that i must be a criminal. Joking or not. I don't suddenly hate white people because of the actions of a few. In fact going after a whole group because of the actions of some is exactly what i'm trying to stop. My faith teaches me that nobody is beyond reconciliation. Beyond redemption. I do not hate them. Is also my faith that allowed me to respond at all. Because i think i did need to say something. I wanted to share this story today and the wisdom of my mother and the harry potter character. Because as individuals and as a religious movement. I think we have some incredible queen pieces. To use. We have some incredible and terrific strength to which we can play. This room. Even though i just met many of you is filled with talent. Filled with wisdom. In one way or another. And we call it something different each of us. There is a way we connect most deeply. To that which is best in us. They're people who can sing so well that. While i'm listening i can i feel like i can in prejudice by dinner time. They're people in here whose voices sundar. With power. I know that your former minister john buren's was one of them. And other voices that make us win and truly listen. Some folks can tell a story and make you feel like you were there too. Folks in here can dance play guitar lead small groups. Paint a picture with a written word and give us a thousand words in one picture. I'm sure there are great listeners and loyal friends in this room as well. We are hilarious and heartfelt passionate and powerful. Warm and welcoming. Each and everyone of us has a queen piece. We are all in one way or another. Darn good flyers. As professor moody put in. We have strength to which we should play and so does our face. What is the queen piece. What are the queen pieces of unitarian universalism. We believe that every person every person matters. Nobody is beyond hope. Beyond love. Beyond reconciliation. Everyone has inherent worth of dignity. We say. You're not saved only if you do this or believe this. Or change this. About yourself but because you are of the divine. You are loved beyond belief. Course we can always agree on what that means or what saving is or divine is. But we all have those values at our core. And that's powerful stuff and i think if we're really willing to use that. To get out there and work hard. It can be very powerful indeed. And using our skills or passions can be a terrifying thing. The queen. As my mom was getting at mike get captured. We might play our hardest and still lose. Firebats standstill get burned. Or tell strangers why they're taunt her. And have our words go in one ear and out the other. But the only way we'll find out is if we use what we've got. If we remember to use. Our queen peace. I think there's very little that can stop us. So two days after my 21st birthday. Tuscaloosa route 24. 13 years after my mom taught me how to play chess. 12 years after she gave me the advice about using the queen piece. And 10 years after i quit planer. I still couldn't beat her. She suggested that we sit down and play again. We started out even. As usual she brought out her queen early. This time though i brought mine out as well. The game took over an hour back and forth. But i finally cornered her. Took her queen and put her in checkmate. And i'm pretty sure my neighbor is her the yellow delight when i realized what i done. She looks made sure she was really in checkmate. Stood up shook my hands. And said. Well done son. Do i have to say though. You're a serious your queen quite a bit. I wanted her in disbelief i said mom did you really forget. What you told me all those years ago about using my queen today. No way i just wanted to hear you say it. And when we lose sight i think. What it is that we have. What are queen pieces when we feel that familiar dread and start to think that we can't move our queen out. Turn behind the pons and self-doubt and fear. We want to change something. In a relationship. In our families. In our communities. In our faith. In our world. We get that feeling of you know what i should just protect myself. Protect my queen and hyde. I think we must. Resist that urge. So. I think when we lose sight of that queen piece. We must listen. To the divine. To our friends to our pain to our loneliness. Professor moody. And play to our strengths. So keep singing. Keep preaching. Keep listening keep leading small groups keep riding keep running keep walking keep learning. Keep loving. May we use our queen peace. And may we all play. To our strength. I'm in. And blessed be.

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041114_Lyceum8_Sherblom.mp3

Morning on the poster ciety. One that grew out of an informal conversation i was having with john buren. So i thought maybe the most appropriate way to deal with this subject. What celebrity. And my own notions about. But i want to make sure foundations about what happened. 16:30. When. This is part of the world to european settlers. Population for north america about a million and a half. Primarily of native american. Population declining happen to find kroger 100 years. Back to western european. Invaded continents. And warfare the power. Masses definition. Population. The modern timer. . power. Chameleon. World population. And a very good standard of living. And china at that point with about 160 million people. Walking smaller country. In fact. Brother. Around. When you're quitting. Economies in the world. China islam. Go to economy that we can look at. Will living at pinnacle living. At the european. People live in the north american continent. Medina.. If you lived in england. Forgetting about it. The average family. You may do a lot lot. On average people had income. Country. At the time it wasn't working well. By then we hit bottom population. People living here around 200. 75% native american 25%. European immigrants generation. In this country. The world. Economy primarily by cutting out other emerging economy and they have. Hogwarts wand. Basically. On the north american tour. This is an important key some of these things played out. About 100 years. Native american flute. About $1,250 per year. Higher than the rest of the world on average. Double bear population. And they had average income. What happened on american culture and on way america was 3% a year but rather. Country opened up the border west of the appalachian mountains. Parallel. Create a central bank united states that made available. Economy. People who would not. 32 century one of the more dramatic.. The working class in america. Everybody. United states. Or maybe more chaotic. 1837. Anytime and anytime fitness. 929 to 1931. And it's anna. when. Plane to have any relationship. Living on willow pond. Ralph invented rapper waldorf the time. Hometown in concord. And his brother die. And thought about the meaning of life. Peter parker. 1837. More. Listen to ministry. Diary. Later time and energy and wonderful about highway in the world. Atlanta. Whittemore. 1837. 3 years later we know the person of integrity. Support meeting for the railroad he used to ride ahead to the church's account. England wealth. Around 1870. The world. What about $9,200 a year and a half.. World war 1. Winston towers coming in and topping up taina militarily. The opium war economy completely devastated. On average. Recorded history. Third world country that you would not want to live if you could where you wanted to economically do. World war 1 around the world. We relatively have lower. Generations of america. 1845. Today. Make a regeneration. Regeneration. Financially. Shuffle.. 1970s. Because where we had so much. We quit pooping. About population. About 20% of the world population. That in mind. China. Population. In the 1950s. Is growing consistently about 5% per year. Compared to world economy. The world economy in the last 20 years. Not unlike a 100 years ago. We are eating. Today we buy fondant. In order to stabilize. Because i. Euros. Today's top-performing wallin out. Small amount. Bank. Avant credit. Eliminated. Purchase price inflation. Look like. In america. Us economy. Because we can wait. Quite what the world average income. Power. Bo nickal. For the first time. Cellphone. 541. 20 years. United states. Disney with a war between. They have the ability to go and funny. Well they. Tablet. Call. The world. As the world. Logan. The world. Children who. Compliment. Increasingly with being american thinking about. Financial constraint. Returning home. I believe. We will see them work as long as they remain healthy. And for me. Activities at work anymore. What does the world around us and we were able to do wonderful thing. Going through. Maintain. Ignoring world standard. We can afford to maintain the biggest army in the world. Some money. America is not worth living. If materialism i think we going to look at several different models. We could go to. We could hold many of the phenomenon. I worry about america. Every individual. As we go. Open. With that let me have a set of contacts. My will always be. People who are barely making it now. Neither without a real. Profound redistribution of wealth. Well-meaning. Where. I think it's very realistic to think that. Will the economy. Number of people coming into work for. If you have somebody who is working part-time because they have limited energy. People work 50 hours a week. America weather. We make. For years old. Weather alert. And they're willing to work. And they can make. We haven't. Weather. We have an ability to pay. Everybody but nobody is left behind without. And it looks like. Weather. Conversation. I'm awake alive another 45 days. Open. And how we are going to have a big impact on the quality. Dialogue. 19 questions. American economics. Temporary. Over the lifetime of the week. And so if you have a facility. If you don't take care of the. Yes i had a question about. Adopt our way that it would have disastrous consequences for the world. Economy inn. Hydroelectric power. Which is the smallest tide. The big black. Available today even if.

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20111225_the_gifts_that_matter_most_sermon_john.mp3

Pinterest poem christmas. 1963. Joseph enzweiler rights. Because we wanted much that year and have little. Because the winter phone for days stayed silent that would call our father back to work. And he kept silent to with our mother. Fearfully proud before us. Because i was young that morning and graylight untouched on the rug and artists were so few. Propped along the furniture. For a second my heart cell. And then saw how large. They made the spaces between them. To take the place of love. Because the curtain sunrose brightly on our discarded paper. And the things themselves these forty years have grown too small to see the emptiness measured. Out remains the gift. Fills the whole room now. That whole year out across the snowy lawn. Because a drop of shame burn quietly. In the province of love. Because we had little that year. We were given much. I heard garrison keillor read those words on the writer's almanac on npr. As i sat down to write the sermon. And found them a gift. As i hope they were to some parents. Who this year. Had to make the spaces between the gift. Large. Because there was so little they could afford to give their children. The spaces. Some of the rest of us. Like this morning. A sample space of time. In an overfilled. Holiday season. Time to do things like. The spiritual exercises the clark wells. Suggest. The nicest gift i ever got but let me tell you. Before i even went to school my mother bought on the installment plan. For a dollar and a quarter a week. Huge set of books. Call the children's book house. It starts with nursery rhymes. And ends with the great legends. From the greeks to the bible to the knights of the round table. I read it all the way through by the time i was ten the wonder island so many books today. When i was five after my younger brother was born my father. My father got me out of mother's hair by. And my brothers. By taking me along on a business trip. On the train. All the way from new york to chicago. I was wide-eyed at meeting famous people in the dining car. Governor dewey. Who ran for president. But the best gift. Was it course simply. The gift of my father's time. And attention. Since he like so many men in that arrow. Worked far too hard. Just as some of the other nicest gifts i ever got were also more like spaces than things. Mrs. johnson my third grade teacher told telling me that i really didn't need to bother with 4th grade. But i could skip the 5th. And then took the time. To give me the essential tools to do that. The multiplication tables. Talk one afternoon. Or the basketball coach in high school. Who saw that i was the youngest. And the most ill coordinated. But let me be the team statistician. And right. The articles. For the newspaper. So i could travel with the team. The year we won the state championship. Are my first real mentor in ministry. The late reverend barbour hollow earth. Who gave me more real work than student ministers normally get. And then when i expressed anxiety about just how to do some tasks. Set listen john. In the ministry as in life the point isn't to learn what to do all the time. But the lord how to behave well when you don't know what to do. Need at the truth. Or the tough old layman. In my first congregation. Who won i was reeling 1 week from a series of tragic deaths. Involving three funerals. Slap me on the back of the. Beginning of the second and told me well. 101 young preachers going to earn his pay round here for a change. And dried me out of self-pity. Giving me the gift of refocusing my attention. On the people who expected me. To be simply present. Yet as we live in a society that too often confuses technique and things fax with. The inner needs of people. A look at the many incidents of. Our political leaders. Subjecting themselves not only to outright graph. Seeking gifts in the most krason self-serving fashion. But guiding our country. Midway's guided. Less by inner wisdom than by. Hope material game. Or political success. I think of a way with many groups and institutions of approach this financial crisis. Seeking their own bailout. What nothing for us. Are all the many economist and pundits with. Conflicting opinions about just what. Technical fix. For political solution they think will rescue us all. During this holiday sometimes referred to. Somewhat cynically is the annual great american consumer potlatch. We excuse wake strange material gifts with one another. In ways that are enough to make this biblical scholar almost regret that the legends around the birth of jesus included those three kings. During symbolic gifts. Real child. After all could ever use. Frankincense. I was slipped an article from the paper saying. But ethiopia's frankincense is endangered that's the least of their problems. And as for the mer. Well i don't know if you ever saw the monty python film the life of brian. Which parodies the whole. Christian story. Brian's mom. As the magi are leaving the manger. Hollers after them. Next time you can skip the murderer. But backup backup all this out work. Show of gift-giving. I think. I can still detect. The real human need. Foreign exchange of the gifts that matter most. Writer lewis hide in his book the gift actually studied the so-called potlatch culture. Of native american people in the pacific northwest. And what he found was at their festivals the exchange about work this was really just about creating. Or renewing what he comes to call the gift economy. Which is very different from the market one. It's about relationships. Unspiritual independent interdependence. And the creativity in the carrying that can emerge from them. Heise's unlike the purchase or sale of a commodity the giving of a gift tends to establish a relationship. Between the parties involved in this there is. An obligation to receive as well as give or to even reciprocate it's not all bad. As a poet himself he. Wright's movingly about depending upon in his writing. And it is life. What is received from others. God knows all we preachers do. And what he feels obligated to give back to the common spiritual good. The quote him a circulation of gifts. Nourishes those parts. Of our spirits that are not entirely personal. Parts that derive from the group from nature the race or the gods. Furthermore although these wider spirits aren't part of us they aren't are part of us they are not ours. To possess they are indominus. Bestowed upon us to care for. The feeds them by giving away the increase that could brought us. Is to accept what are participation in them. Brings. That our participation in the brings with it an obligation. To preserve and pass on their vitality. I like that. We are after all gathered in this meeting house. Which is dedicated to the recirculation. Of human spiritual gifts. Like compassion. Moderation. The relinquishment of the illusion that we can control the world's events. One where i therefore have no embarrassment in asking numbers to remember this community when they give. Does an offer tori round in our kindle puts it. From you i receive. To you i give. Together we share. And from this. We live. Even the youngest child in our midst is meant to understand that. Then yet we quickly forget. And fall into either expecting this thing or feeling entitled to that. In this week's you will rather over working as a minister i was growing a little surly and even depressed when when asked me what i wanted for christmas. And i said a day off. And then she pointed me to this poem by. The sufi master rumi. We should ask god it begins. To help us toward manners. In her gifts do not find their way to creatures without. Just respect. If a man or woman flails about he not only smashes his house but burns. The world down. Your depression. Is connected to your insolence. And your refusal to praise. Ouch. If a man or woman is on the path and refuses to praise. That man or woman steals from others everyday. In fact is a shoplifter. The sun. Became full of light. When it got hold of itself. Angels. Began the shining. When they achieved discipline. The sun goes out. Whenever the cloud. Of not praising. Or another poet real cassette. Deprez is the whole song. Ruby grapes. The most basic form of spiritual discipline. Because life itself. Is a gift. Not to be taken for granted. Admittedly if we look for the price tag that comes with that gift it's clearly that. One day we all have to die. Little long away we will suffer loss and sorrow. But in the meantime our religion is written not in what we say or pray but rather. And how we live. Especially when we don't know how. One of the most important gifts i ever received from a friend came from my one-time colleague in ministry. Now deceased. Forest church. And it was that basic reminder. Younger than i when he died of cancer twice in his final book love and death. My journey through the valley of the shadow you rights. But christmas can make us miss those whom we have lost. Indeed can. Loss and grief and sadness if honestly face however. Can bring us their own kind of spiritual gifts. But sometimes. Knowing. That we share that human condition with others. Is what is most needed. So i offer you the gift. A listening ear whenever it is needed. Is emerson once said clearly the only true gift we can give is a portion of oneself. So i hope you will receive the season. Especially in these days that t.s. eliot referred to as the still point of the turning world. Receive these days. There's a gift of choir. For behind the christmas legend is the reminder that not only jesus. But everyone of us. Is meant to be a gift. Humankind. Using our own spiritual gifts. To bring a little light. And wants. Two others. For where will our children. And our children's children. Derive their capacity for the spiritual gifts that matter. If we do not first discipline ourselves to receive them. Nurtured. Exchangeable. And passed them on. So may the gifts. The gifts that matter most. And their exchange. Never continue. Here. And in. Everyday. Budweiser.

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20120408_where_is_tomorrow__christian_homily.mp3

Trevor have one of those times in your life where things seem really blake like there's. Nothing going on about there's everything is not quite right. Cuz i have. I think a lot of us probably have. And that's where this morning's readings leave me. It's an empty tomb jesus isn't there and his followers are terrified and they flee in they don't know what to think. It's one of those empty times in one's life. The follower the person you've been following is suddenly gone you don't know what to do. You don't know what to think. I'm here today to say that's not knowing. Is sometimes a good place to be. That's a scary thought for a lot of us i like knowing things. Couple weeks ago i preached about being right and wrong i think i hopefully i made it obvious that i care a lot about being right. But sometimes not knowing what to think. Is the only real answer there is. Especially when something terrible happens. Some of us have felt this in our lives. Maybe when martin luther king died. Perhaps on 7th september 11th. Or own personal tragedy that most people don't know about. I certainly had one of these times in my life more than one. It was a few years ago. I was living in natchez mississippi which. Probably has many things to commend it to many people but was not a place where i was happy living. It's a small city in rural mississippi i was working there for the daily newspaper. I didn't have a lot of friends there wasn't a lot to do for a single mid-twenties guy. Which might shock you about a town of 20,000 in royal mississippi but it's true. And then. I got a phone call. About a professor of mine who. Had pancreatic cancer. It was bad he basically had a death sentence it was a matter of months to live. I went to see him i spoke to him for a while he was someone who have been really formative in my life. Especially in college. He was someone i went to. Fred by someone i trusted someone who told me things. That mattered and sometimes things i didn't want to hear. A few months later he did die. It's gone. Dr. ross lance. Distinguished professor at the university of houston where i went to school. Is gone now and it left an empty hole in my life. The natchez mississippi living there had already started to bring open. I liked my job i didn't like a whole lot else i was doing. Maybe you've had a time like this in your life to. A time and you didn't know what was next and empty time. And that's why i like the reading from lousy we read this morning. Emptiness is what defines usefulness sometimes. The clay is useless without the empty spot in the middle to hold the water. A room is defined as much by the space within as by the walls without. I think it's in the midst of this emptiness sometimes that new things come into our lives. I know it is for me. It was that time in my life. The led me to start attending church regularly for the first time ever. And see where that's probably. Maybe a cautionary tale for some of you. But it was after that i moved back to texas i start attending the church of the brazos valley. And here i am today. My wife had something of a similar experience she's over there and it's a highlighter. I asked her if i could share the story to so it's okay don't worry. She was living in england a few years back. Just after college. Having one of those fun experiences in which you realize that it's very difficult to get work in england if you're not. From there. She works in the deli i think she introduced single-handedly introduce the grilled cheese sandwich. To britain so you can thank her for that. But she had one of those times where she was very poor. Very homesick. And didn't quite know what was next. And then she stumbled on the manchester unitarian church. You may see a thread here between these stories it's not a coincidence that we're both she's a minister i'm trying to be. It was the manchester unitarian church that confirm the call she had always felt in her life. 1 to the ministry. She came back. Try to raise a little money. I don't started seminary. We met a couple years later. But it was an empty time. It started her on the path to ministry. For real. It's in the midst of emptiness that these things come into our lives i think. Not always but hopefully. It's our job to be in that empty time. To acknowledge it. And to look for what's next. From the saddest of times can arise anew vision of life. One in which a new world arises from the old. I think that's what the story of mark that i read earlier today tells us. Unlike the other gospels mark ends with a vision of an empty tomb. That's where it stops. The little thing you might have read sometimes is actually an addition. Some people don't like ending an emptiness it's not a comfortable place for us. But i think it's important that this gospel does end with emptiness. It ends with people not knowing what's next. It's our job as people of faith to define. That what's next. To see what can be in the future even when what is right now does not match up to our highest expectations. For people who believe that there is something greater ahead of us even if we can't see it right now. So for now it's our job to be here sometimes in the emptiness until look ahead. And so i close with a poem. For my favorite poet. Adam say yes key. Translated from the polish by claire cavanaugh. Try to praise the mutilated world. Remember june's long days. And wild strawberries. Drops of wine. Thedooo. The nettles that methodically overgrow the abandoned homesteads of x-files. You must praise the mutilated world. You watch the stylist yachts and ships. One of them had a long trip ahead of its. Well salty oblivion awaited others. You've seen the refugees heading nowhere. You've heard the executioner sing joyfully. You should praise the mutilated world. Remember the moments when we were together in a white room and the curtains fluttered. Return and thoughts of the concert where music flared. You gathered acorns in the park and autumn. And leaves edith over the earth scars. Praise the mutilated world. And the grey-feather a thrush lost. And the gentle light. Let's trays. And vanishes. And returns. Friends we must praise the mutilated world. And reconstruct a vision of a world to come. Amman.

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20120617_fathers_and_flowers_christian_sermon.mp3

The father's day is not a religious holiday the secular one. But. Given that we had a baby 10 weeks ago i wasn't going to not say anything about it i'm sort of excited about father's day my first one as a father at least had quite a few is the sun. And i thought i might share all the many wisdom i've learned about fatherhood over 2 months and i realize that might be a short sermon there could be worse things we could go have some food early i suppose. But i'm not sure a little as i was some other things. Cuz i was thinking about father's day and a flowers ceremony and how i might talk about both of those my wife actually try and in. Made it obvious to me. The both of them are about relationship. There are fathers without children there aren't children without fathers. Amazon share with you today the flowers ceremony. Is all about people and their relationships with one another. It's worth talking about another father. So i mentioned already. Norbert capek. The service we do today was created by norbert capek. He lives in the last part of the 19th. Is martin 1870 he died 1942 i didn't write down how to do that now is get the century wrong when i change so. A mother among other things in his life he founded the unitarian church in czechoslovakia. What was then czechoslovakia. In 1923 just not too long after he founded the church. He realize that he wanted a ceremony that would join his people together. They've come from a lot of different religious backgrounds and some of them had some baggage from some of those so he couldn't use something that had already been created. That might sound familiar to some of us. Traditional christian communion service with bread and wine. Was it difficult saying because many of his. His congregants had strong reactions against their catholic faith. Instead he turned to the native beauty of his countryside so the flowers that grow on the hills around prague. He thought this would be a communion that could be genuine to them. And this simple service was the result. It was such a success that one time that you conducted it every year. And his wife marsha. Brought it to this country. The cambridge massachusetts to our church there. It exploded like. Well flowers doing the spring after that i suppose. I haven't been in the unitarian church. That's not sure if i wanted to. Almost all of them celebrate it now. The tropics said met in new york city actually. Phone number was studying for a phd. And it was mahja who encouraged him to leave the baptist ministry and becoming unitarian. When they returned czechoslovakia in 1921 they established what eventually became the largest unitarian church in the world. Masha herself was ordained in 1926. Unfortunately mazda came back to this country to introduce the flower communion. And what war broke out. Leaving her unable to return to her husband. He stayed there with some of their children. And was accused of and jailed for the crime of listening to foreign broadcasts on the radio. It wasn't till after the war that it was found out he had died in a nazi concentration camp. Buzz from this beautiful beginning. What does tragedy as well. But the flower ceremony comes. Each person is asked to bring a flower of their own choice from their own garden from the roadside from wherever they can bring it. We join these flowers together symbols that all of us come together in this community. All of us different each unique all of us bringing something different. And all of us of our own freewill coming together. As we each bring a flower. It's the symbol of our united church. In his introductory tropics church as here. Young people will help us spread out these flowers again returning a different flower to each person. Signifying the beginning of a relationship. That already exists between members of this community. It's in that relationship. Which i feel like i've spoken about before. Its relationship that i think is so crucial the reason we're here this community. I've heard it said that most preachers only really have one sermon. They just change the words a little bit so if there's one i have i hope it's this. It's not our relationships with each other matter that being in this community together is important. And that we have something to share with the world in that relationship. For the last four weeks i've been working in a hospital. I say working i actually pay to get to do that for a village. But it's part of my training for the ministry i'm doing. Clinical pastoral education. Which is a fancy term for paying to get to go work as a chaplain for 10 weeks. I didn't know exactly what to expect walking in and since i have 6 weeks of it left i won't share my final thoughts with you today. But the thing that surprised me most actually might be the assignments i got. I'm working at saint elizabeth's hospital in brighton. The strong community hospital they do wonderful work. Strong catholic identity as well they have patience from all faith traditions. So my assignments so i work throughout the entire hospital song. Are on the substance abuse floor. Any locks adult psychiatric ward. Fine i'm game. That's not what i was expecting i thought mostly i would be dealing with people who were physically ill. And these people are physically open in a way that's less apparent. It strikes me as. Important. That i have a relationship there. And our relationship is one that most of these people don't experience in other parts of their lives. I'm someone who's not asking for anything from them except perhaps to talk for a minute. See if there's anything i can offer them. I'm not trying to take blood or force them to take their medication. Or make them go to sleep. Anytime they want they can tell me to get lost and i'll walk away. And that's something that people struggling with mental illness don't have a lot in their lives i think. I hope it's something i can bring to them. Is a relationship. In which they're in control for once. I got to tell you they love to talk to me. They don't like their nurses they don't like the other stuff. They love me especially once you telling me or chop on. As it turns out. People struggling with mental illness often have spiritual issues on their minds. Someday i might share more of those stories right now that's enough relationship matters. That's the message i want to leave you with today. As we begin to exchange our flowers we show our willingness to walk together in our search for truth. Disregarding what might divide us. Each of us will take home a flower today. Brought by someone else. Symbolizes our shared connection our celebration in this community. A communion of sharing essential to people in our religion. With that can i please invite forward my helpers. As we begin the process. A blessing the flowers and then passing them out. This is a traditional rest blessing written by norah capek himself. Alright let's plus one by blessing on these. Play messengers of fellowship and love. May they remind us amid diversities of knowledge and of gifts to be one. In desire and affection. And devotion to lie holywell. May they also remind us of the value of comradeship of doing and sharing alike. May we cherish friendship as one of their most precious gifts. May we not let awareness of another's talents discourage us or sully our relationship. But maybe realize that whatever we can do great. Or small. The efforts of all of us are needed to do that work in this world. And so bless these flowers as we pass them forward to everyone here today.

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20120219_open_source_ministry_christian_sermon.mp3

So every week the great wise man knows rude and spoke in the market. And he always had wonderful intelligent wise things to say. And so many people came. And more and more until the market was full. Every week. Any twiki spoken said wise things until one week. He sat down to think about what he was going to say. And nothing came. No good thoughts no bad thoughts nothing he just had to nothing to share at all. And so the day came when he usually spoken the markets. And he walked up in front of the people. And he said. Do you understand what i am going to tell you today. The people glanced at each other and said no. And he said well if you don't even understand what i'm going to say there's no point in talking to you he walked off and left. Next week still no thoughts no good thoughts no bad. nothing to hide nothing to share. And again he walked up front of the people there were even more people this time people on the roofs every space was packed. Cuz they were so intrigued that what he done the last week. He walked up. He said. Do you understand what i am here to tell you today. Are people as one shouted yes. He said great. I don't need to say it then i'll leave. Another week passed still nothing he had no wise thoughts. And so again. He walked up in front of the people more people than ever. And he said do you understand what i'm here to tell you today. A half the people said yes and have said no. And he said great those who understand explain it to those who dumps and again halo. So i open with a story not because i'm about to leave i'll keep talking. But because i think this is a good metaphor. There's almost any topic on earth that i could talk about and some of you would already know far more than i ever will know about it. Some of you wouldn't understand a word i would say though i hope that's a very few song. And most of us. Would understand a little we would be yes and now. And that's where i am today. With open-source ministry. So if you don't know open source software from an open-faced sandwich it's okay. I'm going to try to explain even as much as our reading already explained. I know software wiz either. I know how to turn my iphone on and download programs. I know how to write a word document check my email the other day i even managed to install a new printer driver so that my printer will once again print pages. But any more than that and i am as lost as anyone. So when i talk about open source. I'm not just talking about software are you don't have to know any coding in order to understand this i sure hope. Cuz i'm in trouble if you do. What open-source means in terms of church that's what landon wants us tried to tell us. Some churches are very close. Only a few people have any opportunity to make anything happen. Open source churches start with a vision and a mission. And anyone contribute to building that. That's the way open source software works as well. It's a few basic instructions a program starts and anyone has the opportunity to build upon that to make it better. In some cases to make it worse. But always to build and to share back with what we've learned. There's a great story about this. From an engineer. He works in an office in which there was a printer and it jammed constantly. That would have been bad enough except that it was also on a different floor than he worked on and you didn't know it jammed until you went out to check and see if your documented printed. So he made a simple tweak. He went in you change the software. So it's slow down and didn't jam quite as often and when it did jam it send an email out to everyone in the office so that someone could go fix the problem. This works great. Until the rocks offered them a brand new printer. Which they suck. The problem was. This one. Was closed source software not open source so when it as the previous printer. Jams over and over again he couldn't go in and make that little tweak. Driving crazy. Again i hope this is a good metaphor for church. Things will go wrong here. And i hope that all of us feel empowered to make a difference not just relying on a few leaders to make something happen. So if we're going to be an open-source church. Which i think we are to some degree already. I hope all of us feel welcome. To share our ideas to have our ministries recognized and valued by this community. And to have a voice in what we all do together. So if we are going to be that open-source church that i think we must be. It has to start with our vision. Some of the words i read most weeks here as part of our welcome. I'll read it again. First parish in needham strives to be a vibrance. Open inclusive congregation in which all are free to explore and grow spiritually and intellectually in a supportive and socially responsible community. Through inspirational worship. Music and celebrations. Religious education for all ages. Social action outreach. Opportunities for reflection. An intergenerational. And social activities. That's a mouthful isn't it. We have a lot going on here. And that's a lot to live up to in our vision. Which is why i think it'll take more than me and john doing it. I hope that all of you step forward to contribute your ministries to making that vision a reality. You might be interested in making us a more green sanctuary as our committee does. They're going to wonderful job of helping us be more friendly to the environment. In our building here and in the rest of our lives. You might have a different inspiration. You might want to be on the worship committee as i wasn't my home church for a number of years. Because. I know this will come as a shock to you but. I like worship. Not a coincidence i'm standing out here today. You might be interested in the building and grounds you might be one of those sainted souls who ince's interested in working on the finance committee. God bless them because i don't want to do that. Or you might have some ministry that we've never even thought of that can contribute to making this community the community we want it to be. Vivrant open. Inclusive. I hope that all of you. Feel that this church is open to you. Open for you to bring your ministries to propose your ideas to see if they support our greater mission and vision. That's what open source is really about. It's about valuing all people in this community both inside its walls and outside of it thinking that all of us have something important to contribute to our lives together. So if you only understand one little thing i say today. Let it be that. I think we all have something to contribute. And i can't wait to hear what your ideas are. I hope everyone here can't wait to hear what your ideas are. So if there's a yes and a no today. Let it be that. Let it be that even if i don't understand something i want to and i want to hear it from you.

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20110904_work_love_and_everything_else_scott_mccue_sermon.mp3

Good morning once again. It's why i mention my name is scott mccue. And i've been a member here at first parish for about a year. And i'm really grateful for the opportunity to speak on this labor day weekend. Roughly nine years ago. I began working to start a new urban public school called boston. The paratore charter public school. Since 2003 i served as a head of school at boston prep. Miss roll. High-performance variety funk. Raising money. Balancing the budget. Iron staff. Green school buses. I supervise the cafeteria at lunchtime. Eliminated plunging toilets. It may come as no surprise that the world of education reform is a yeasty one. And one with a fair amount of turnover. 9 years of leadership makes me an old-timer at the age of 37. But that is a pretty lame credential. I'd like to share a few thoughts today about my work. Work is intense. Anacani bus training and fulfilling. This is a congregation full of people that are or have been similarly committed to their own work. Without as a frame i'd like to share a few reflections about the satisfaction. And perils of hardware. Drawing on my own experiences. I should also point out that john actually recommended a subtitle for these remarks and that was. Confessions of a thirty-seven-year-old overachieving workaholic do-gooding dad. When john buren calls you a workaholic do-gooder you know you got some issues. Anyway. And this labor day i'll start by mentioning the charter schools occupy a unique relationship to organized labor one that has continued to evolve in recent years and months. Initial concept for charter schools was developed in the late 1980s by the then president of the american federation of teachers al shanker. Division wasn't there would be independent public schools of choice. Which would use their independence to innovate and that the innovation some charter schools would be applied to more traditional public schools. Charter schools in massachusetts were created in the early 1990s. Part of a broader education reform at. In massachusetts. Carter's follow all the state and federal laws that apply to any other public school but are exempt from local school district regulations. We don't select our students at boston crap they get in by lottery. And they are representative cross-section of the boston public schools. However. We have our own unique curriculum schedule enterprises human resources i'm technically a superintendent of a very small independent school district. Foot in the city of boston. Much of the controversy associated with charter school stems from the fact that funding follows the pupils. When a student leaves the boston public schools for boston prep. They bring roughly $13,000 with them. For this reason among others labor organizer strongly against charter schools in the 1990s. So. Charter schools became the political darlings of the conservative right-wing. Charter advocates such as milton friedman argue the creating a market of educational opportunities would cut through the red tape. And inertia what did hindered education reform for decades. Teachers unions in mini traditional superintendent's resistant charters and two distinct factions form. Charters were supported by the political right. Annapolis by the political left. This is where i should point out that i'm a prius driving. Bearded vegetarian unitarian universalist and that makes me a very odd child of the political right. Fortunately. The acrimony over charters has changed dramatically in recent years. There's a growing realisation that charter schools represent. Much-needed options but at least will serve students in boston and across the commonwealth. The parents of the students are democrats. Popular films like waiting for superman and the lottery has made charter school founders less like look. That's like pirates and more like good guys. Our current democratic president embraces charter schools even more enthusiastically than his republican predecessor. There's a growing recognition that building flexibility into the work of teachers is one of the best ways to dignify them as professionals. And perhaps most importantly leaders in district schools and charter schools across massachusetts. Have begun to build substantial bridges to one another. Embracing the opportunities to share while we compete. Based upon growing recognition. They're all ultimately in the same business. Boston crap occupies a unique role within the boston charter movement. Are schools built around a two-pronged mission. The first prong involves preparing all students for success in college. The stakes attached to this goal are high. Young men are statistically more likely to go to prison. Seneca college. And our opening years we've had some encouraging successes in our pursuit of this goal. Our students consistently leave the state of massachusetts on the mcat exam. A 2009 study rank boston as one of the top five schools in the nation. In terms of promoting student growth. And most importantly every member of our founding class which graduated in june was accepted to college many of them are starting school this week. All that said the second punic war mission impossible recognizes. Had a good school does more than teaching students to read write and calculate. Boston cab in to cultivate a spirit of ethical reflection. With a particular focus on five key virtues. These are courage compassion. Integrity perseverance. And respect. Students participate in a weekly ethics class. Studying the virtues and ultimately composing their own treatises on what the virtues mean to them. Adia is not that a weekly ethics class will make every student a good person. By the goal is to create a common vocabulary. Adolescents are intensely interested in questions of character. Statics class at boston prep grade 2 common framework. Which permeates everything else history class. Basketball practice even conversations in the cafeteria. For me the perspective of a dorchester teenager on ethics places unique lens on labor day here in needham. Habits and attitudes are profoundly sticky. In so many ways the students of boston are tested in ways. Leon sons never will be. Many boston prep students have had close friends or family members get shot or stabbed. One student came to school the day after her brother was murdered. And she acted like nothing happened. Another student. A seventh-grader witnessed a terrifying act of domestic violence. Call 911. And it came to school. Many of my students don't get enough to eat. Amazing grit of these young people makes it hard to discuss courage and perseverance. Without sounding trite. And yet many of the same students are accustomed to public schools that dismiss at 1 in the afternoon. The two to three hours of homework reacquire arbutus exceptional. Even for high schoolers who see themselves as college-bound. Many of our most compassionate students still believe. Somebody hits you you must hit them back. Because in their neighborhoods failing to do so is a fatal sign of weakness. In any community their scripts we internalize. E-scrap shaper attitudes towards work. And everything else. In ways which are profound. And hard to shake. This can be true of neighborhoods or schools. Churches and other types of communities. The scripts reflect a certain consensus. Around values and vision and they are especially powerful and strong communities. They can serve to empower us. But they can imprison us as well. There's a certain script that i anticipate my own son's internalize here in needham. Kate and i moved here because of values of the needham public schools. Resonated with our own. We've chosen first parents because of an even stronger. Clearer sense of resonance. Well you use arnon kridel there's an unmistakable commitment to reflection and a service in this church community. This is an extremely high capacity community. A great great deal of work it's done by members of this congregation. On sundays in especially on every other day of the week. I would like to suggest a thing a highly capable. Ethically driven individual presents a unique set of spiritual challenges. Growing up as a child of two accomplished professionals. Attending high-achieving suburban schools. Internalize the sense that my work define me in some fundamental way. Subscribing to verizon ocean that work in love were the two pillars of happiness i threw myself into work. To be honest as a teenager i found it easier to find opportunities for work been for love. I earned good grades. I went to a fancy college. Much of my career has been spent striving to be the very best at what i chose to do this is true for many people in this room today. I also made a decision early on to pursue a vocation with reflected a visceral commitment to social justice. I lost myself in work. Not too long ago. For me 80 hour work weeks were the norm. I put in one 14 hour day after getting mugged at 4 a.m.. Acting like nothing happened. I sacrifice sleep and help and many other things. I never really regretted it. My passion for the work and dedication to the people i work with. Made a completely worthwhile. Certainly there's some big problems with this approach and i'm going to talk about that. But there's something beautiful as well. As the story of jacob wrestling with the angel tells us. There's something transformative about grappling with what we believe. Although we may be wounded by the effort relentlessness allows us to glimpse the eternal in unique ways. Losing yourself in something can be very powerful. If we tried the biblical tradition for the classical. We might find additional justification for this point of view. Aristotle the foundational thinker in ninth grade ethics class of boston prep. Frames the wall live life as one characters characterized by eudaimonia. Eudaimonia translates loosely to happiness but in truth. Aristotle's describing a deeper richer form of flourishing. Aristotle argues that humans experience eudaimonia in performing their most essential work in an excellent manner. For aristotle that essential work was living in accord with virtue. Just as the highest form of playing the harp. It's play the carpet excellence. The highest form of being human. It's a live one's entire life in accord with virtue. Well i may not have had aristotle in mind specifically when i plunged into my career. I'm certain some variation in this concept played a role. What is the meaning of life if not to act with virtue. And if some virtue was good. Lots is probably better. Of course is perils to this approach because ultimately. We are more than i work. As i moved even farther from awkward adolescence. Awkward adulthood. I came to appreciate the first prong of freud's assertion. I'll doing good work with passion is important. Love for friends and family. Must be seen ultimately as a foundation for our humanness. This is hard for me to see is a twenty-year-old. It came into ross focus when i was 30. And as i've matured i come to appreciate more and more than necessity for love. For truly peering into the divine. Without question. Part of what drives me to boston is my love for the students we serve. And the team i work with. And yet as i've been blessed with marriage and parenthood in my more recent life the balance of become harder. What time is boston prep comes at the expense of time with my family. Can get away with my son. Find time to talk to my wife. Are sacred in ways i've only recently come to realize. I settle more solidly into the universe in my time with kate henry and eli. Andy does have aids i come to realize that pursuits i might want to dismiss his frivolous. Spending time in church. Cooking a meal slowly. Exercising. Or just spending time being quiet. Are deeply and vitally necessary as well. Is a challenge that so many of us base. There's undeniable fulfillment from deep vocational engagement. Butter related spiritual imperative for love. Reflection. What time outside of work. There's no easy formula to striking this balance. Perhaps it's the grappling itself that isn't some way the holy work. And on this labor day weekend. We should renew our commitment to our work. Simultaneously renew our commitments to the minis horses. A spiritual nourishment. We rely on outside our work. Recognizing there whenever there may never be perfect balance. Let us celebrate the humanity involved in this effort.

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050206_Lyceum13_Lenow.mp3

Bailed at the old meeting house of the first parish in needham massachusetts i'm john buren's the minister first parish and the moderator of the lyceum. Very few issues in public affairs in our world today are as important as peace in the middle east. The continuing occupation of. Considerable portions of the west bank and gaza by israel the tensions and the violence that has escalated in recent years in the second intifada. The recent developments in the palestinian authority that perhaps. Promise. Israel and palestine. And today we have those are guests. Representatives of an organization that began here in the boston area among its jewish community. In the late 1990s. Deeply concerned. About. The stagnation of peace process. Israel-palestine. And former union occupied territories. Are going to share with us. Some of their concerns and understandings about. Visions of peace and justice. Palestine and israel. I give you a holler atlanta to begin. Good morning and thank you very much for having to this morning. Remember to metrowest community. We are visions of peace with justice and israel-palestine reformed delegation. American medical project. History of bringing. This was our delegation of. Lawyers union activist journalist and doctor doctor. Our organization works very closely with the only remaining partnership and israel-palestine. Physicians for human rights israel and. Around the west bank and gaza. This is just a quick map of where we went and terms of art or the yellow part is israel today as it's defined and the other little section with the words westbank. Give you a sense of where we were and we went into tel aviv and then went through the westbank from ramallah up to novice and the north up to janine in the top north of the westbank. Back down to carmen back to israel so we toward a fair part of the country. I'm going to turn it over to jeff to talk a little bit about the context for the occupation before we get into the specifics which is the conditions on the ground in the west bank and gaza we have limited time focusing on. Good morning and thanks for inviting us here i'm going to take a minute. It's this one so bear with me for a minute. Is represents the territory that was considered the british mandate of palestine. Middle east. Was prior to the first world war part of the turkish ottoman empire. Turkey lost the first world war the empire was divided up to the people. Was given a mandate from the. Going all the way through jordan. And north of france. And. Wishes and histories of the local people's. Palestine in in the area. By the time of the second world war and afterwards. The population of. This was a third of the population of the entire area up to that time the other two-thirds palestinian. Now understandably. Guilt in europe and doing something to help. An arab state. The plan respect. And it was passed in this plan. Ratio was exactly the opposite and needless to say nobody consulted before making this decision. Even though. Didn't agree could blame them. And the next one. The superior military force of the israelis enabled them to defeat. Mandated. In 1967 when the arab states surrounding israel were apparently getting ready to test israeli military. Carterville bus area the west. Jordan river and the gaza strip. Next. Israel. Return the occupied territories to their rightful inhabitants and allow the refugees the right of return. The most famous one is security council resolution 242 which. This'll give you a chance of the west. Of course it's all under the control of the israeli armed forces. The large population centers urban population centers. Brown and yellow area. Apt comparison. In order to control a palestinian population the israeli armed forces have set up a series of. This is a map of the westbank that shows the checkpoints that exists basically you cannot travel. Prom. The outlying villages. This show is the latest manifestation. Shows the projected area of the area is what. Inferior under palestinian control the lighter yellow of the area enclosed by the israeli wall that would be in siri on the israeli side as the west bank and gaza represent only 20% of the original palestine. Israel will take an additional 40 or 50% of the remaining part of palestine. The border the god of border is the green line which was the illegal recognize border of israel. Those bulges to the right of the green line are the areas that would be enclosed within the wall that israel is building. And give you a flavour of the checkpoints. What is involved in this is a relatively early stage register. And this will give you. And this is basically most. I miss. The show's basically you no ordinary people trying to. Do their daily business. And the checkpoints are heavily guarded. Israeli soldiers usually young young man. Heavily-armed. This is what he has to face trying to get past an israeli checkpoint and the weather in palestine in the winter is cold and rainy. Other special arrangements are made when there is an israeli settlement. To safeguard the settlements. Passing and then if you're lucky. Man in particular are the target of humiliation and. Bad treatment at the checkpoints in this is an example of soldiers treesome but he's handcuffed behind in that little. And that little niche in the wall and he may wait there in that position sometimes for hours. Okay needless to say the closures have a terrible effect on the economy in the westbank. Business is very difficult movement. Product of palestine was cut by huge amount. They're also going to show you a picture of this there also medical consequences of these closures needless to say. Travel. As a result of not being able to receive prompt medical care when show a little. Template that's about that issue. Adult woman in the newborn and the impact of conflict. Physical and psychological consequences. Policy of the palestinian ministry of health with to encourage all women to give birth in hospital but lack of access to healthcare now has been severely restricted and it's become even dangerous or life-threatening sometimes for women to try to get to the hospital when they're when they're in labor and independent. According to a recent un report 75% of health professionals cannot regularly get to their place of work. Pregnancy when they go into labor or if they have a complication of not being able to access medical care and unfortunately this is the reality there have been documented cases of women dying at checkpoints while giving birth waiting to get through to a nearby hospital. Numerous bruce have taken place at the at the checkpoints some have resulted in neonatal death. Alright. Powers going to speak in a minute but i just want to start off with a little bit of these friends we had it and what you're seeing here is is one of the outcomes of. Israeli building in the palestinian territories. A number of palestinian villages in population centers happened to be on the quote israeli side of the wall even though it's all palestinian territory and in those cases. As this example this village that we visited near call kelia the villages themselves are entirely surrounded by a fence to barbed wire electrified fence such as this one. Sometimes the results are even more. Outside the town of masa weekly visited and where there was a clinic held by the doctors from the. Israeli physicians for human rights the lay-of-the-land was such that in order to build a fence at its most advantageous place. Allowing the israeli roof building at the far right in order to fence off the israeli settlement from the palestinian was left on the. Settlement side of the fence and that's the house that you see in the sort of middle right of your slide naturally the people were intimidated and the enclave. And this is some of the children. So howard is going to continue with our visit to call killian. Kelsey lea is. A city of 45,000 people. 29000. Calculator. Cuz the unfortunate honor of being close to the border. And those red roof you can see it's not a picture of san diego that's a picture of an is an illegal israeli settlement. And in order to protect that settlement this amazing. Structure called. Famous. What this map shows you the black line is the path of the wall. And it has literally encircled the city of calculate. And the blue represent settlements and water rights. So they have constricted the water rides from calculator to provided to the israeli settlements. And clothes off. And the farmers no longer have direct access to their farmland on either side of a wall that's their land. This is an aerial photograph of the construction. Discard the land in order to build this wall around this city of 45,000 people and at the very top of what is really the bottle if you will of this. There's a little gate that is 24 ft wide. That is the only way. People live in the city of calculator. So imagine. If on the street across the street here. To get out of needham open and close. Show you is a video that. Weather today in the morning. As a symbol it was hard to minimize and given its location it was a cruel irony for just beyond the six-foot walls protecting the school yards was the other wall. This 126 ft high staring down at us. This section of the barrier wall forms next to the school. Well the children were inside our guides who i was explaining the local situation in calculator. It took a few minutes to gator composer could be dangerous they were flashpoints along this imposed boundary constantly. As a captive city businesses cannot survive farming was interrupted and nighttime assaulted left the community. Demographic allocation board we could clearly see israeli settlements on the palestinian side green line also the buffer zones highways in artillery used to protect and segregate them. A former land provided the israeli army a high embankment used a lob shells into the city completely encircled by barriers where farmland has been confiscated. And family separated was dying under the strain football. We saw at fortel's. In the fields. In the streets at the locked gate the human cost for an alcohol as the sun went down we saw what we had only heard about. I'm inside calculator. The beauty of a sunset had also been taken away by the wall the symbolism was bad enough the reality was terrifying. I seen that maybe a hundred times and it still you know hits me right in my heart whenever i say it that's jeff mansion the international court of justice a recently in a 14 the one decision made very clear that. It's an important symbolic decision whenever the international court in such convincing. Pictures. Because for me what the most important part of this trip was aside from documenting the conditions on the ground the real-life hardships faced by palestinians was meeting the people who live who have been so badly portrayed in our mass media. Our experience was that the palestinians we met were warm and inviting. Determined. This is a crew labor leaders at a local restaurant beginning what we called cigars for peace. For no reason other than for belonging to a political party. This young woman is a twenty-three-year-old university student who uses to deal with children who been traumatized by violence. We're going back and she's going to help us translate in our next trip i asked her when she described after her father's chicken farm had been destroyed by the israeli defense forces during a recent incursion and her mother supports them by taking and selling and they live. And she says because i wake up the next morning believing things are going to get better. We met with the emergency room in the hospital. And would have kept us there all night serving as you know pastries and black coffee. It was just an extraordinary sense of hospitality i love this picture cuz he's sitting outside in palestine. And the children. And. This young man. His father is a doctor who has been beaten. Before providing medical care. It was the end of my football career. But it was just an example of how strange and experienced it was for some calculator because we were staying in a little sandlot in a little hostile. And people heard that internationals with erin the children came out and we just started talking to them and we've been told the children were going to be afraid of us because we were jewish. And we started off just throwing the ball around and then. One-by-one you know 20 30 kids started showing up and we just had this massive football game where i was throwing kids around they were attacking me and fathers and mothers and teenage we're coming out and it was just a wonderful experience. And we always going to slide with. Should have a symbol. Nn this is a young palestinian boy throwing a rock at a giant israeli tank. Which really symbolizes for us the sort of. Definition of the imbalance that goes on a regular basis. This is our website. org. You're always welcome to make contributions but primarily we're interested in getting the word out and we will come and speak to any group who's interested in learning more about these issues thank you very much. Responsibility. It's very clear from your relations with ordinary palestinians and from the polling that them. Is made public. Tamil recent elections in the palestinian authority that the majority of the palestinian people indeed. Would like to have. A two-state solution. With peace. With secure borders for both nations. It's also. Been the pattern in every. Conflict of this sort weather in northern ireland or in israel and palestine. That there is a violent man already. Google do their absolute utmost. To destroy any steps forward. When you will speak about these matters i'm sure your ass. What are your thoughts about dealing with. Suicide bombers. And with the continuing threat of violence in the palestinian community. Foreign occupation. Terrorism. Naturally the vast majority of fallacy. Attacks on civilians on the other hand. Acting it's a government that a state taking these actions. Equivalent of the occupier. Let me up. What book traveling might be made available to people who would like to that dialogue with you. Very very struck seeing many of the scenes from the occupied territories. And. I couldn't help but relate them to things that happened to jews in europe. And seeing the. Sing the pianist which depicts. The warsaw ghetto and how people's movement was restricted and then it that went on for years until it resulted in. Final solution. And i guess. What distresses me the most and i'm a person of jewish descent on one side of my family. Is that. The leaders of israel. Are having a hard time seeing. The way that they are victimizing others and only seeing themselves as victims found some of the comments i heard from ariel sharone on the 60th anniversary of auschwitz. Basically he was saying well we do that protect ourselves cuz nobody else is going to protect us. And this is how he protects. I guess my question is what. What resources of hope do you see in in jewish jewish community and religious traditions in. And the whole jewish history. That can help push. Israel towards a a good solution. That's great question got a clue. I'm being somewhat facetious. We didn't play one video for you that. Spoke directly to that question it's it's. Comments by doctor who, martin who was the founder of physicians for human rights israel. And she's with her whole life. And israel and we asked her that question how can israel. Do what it's doing. And her immediate response without even thinking was we had a very good teacher. Samantha nazis. And has fought her whole life. To try and raise these fairy issues how can. Jews allow this to happen. There is movement within the american jewish community. Our group is one. There's a group in chicago. Which speaks directly to the issues that you're raising. I'm wearing a t-shirt of jewish voice for peace. Out of san francisco and there is a peace movement within israel. It is nowhere near as large as many of us would like it to be. I can't even say whether it's a growing peace movement although i should feel like i. Have to believe that. Who are jewish. I personally feel very strong and that's why i'm doing what i'm doing. Because i can't stand by and let this happen in my name. And for as long as it takes there's an organization called tycoon for example in united states. Which speaks to this conflict from a very religious perspective. I don't come to this my religious perspective but many jews doing i just don't think there's an answer to your question except that those of us who feel strongly. React. Let me just reminds me that. Probably. Billions of dollars in military and financial. Peace out there israel could not maintain its occupation. Citizens of this country. Responsibility. Until. We should. Israeli citizenry. I pick up in the news reports particularly on this proposal to remove some of the settlements from gaza. That is almost extreme divisions that there are. A minority very committed to. Having israeli. Israel control all of palestine. And settle all of it. And those were far more moderate and want to pull back the so-called illegal settlements. It's just an open question do you know is there. Tomcat a sleep within the electorate in israel let's. Y'all should have had causing. Almost internal. Conflict. I mean there are huge splits within israel. What's going on now and depressed is getting a lot of coverage to. Sharon's alleged disengagement plan from gaza. And there is division within. Israeli army and there is division within israeli citizen dries to whether or not. They should force. 7500 settlers. 20% of 11. Palestinians living in geyser have the remainder of the land. But there's all kinds of divisions and. At the bottom is really what's going on with this guy's a disengagement plan as a senior aide. Tyrone gave an interview to a major israeli daily. Indicating that this was being done and anyways to take the pressure off of israel from the united states. Disengage from gaza. That they would not be forced to disengage from all the settlements in the west bank. So. You know your question yes there's division. But there are soldiers who are refusing to participate. Or say they will not participate in the forced withdrawal of. The settlers from gaza. There's also a great movement of israeli refusers who are refusing to serve in the west bank and gaza because they believed as a matter of conscience that it hurts israel's security and that it's wrong. Let me just add a couple of things i mean 11 hopeful thing is that in some ways there is more and more serious debate about these issues among jews and israel than there is among jews or non-jews in the united states. People in israel on all sides know more about the situation in most people in the united states do that. And. Just conservative republican oriented churches to a much further extreme. Earlier you you alluded to the fact that the american government has a lot of influence over israeli policy because of. Our financial contribution. How much. Influence does the american jewish community have on american policy and. What direction is that going in my wife's family who is jewish. They're very depressed they they feel that things are actually backsliding that. That the support for israeli policies in the in the jewish community of america is actually increasing not decreasing. I'm having how do you say that him and how do you turn that around. Well i wish i knew i think your observations are correct on one level the organized jewish community in the united states that is the religious institutions and communal organizations. Whatever israeli policy is current at the moment. There is not a powerful lobby on the other side. I know having been elected to union office so over my life i know the way the dynamic works if there is an outspoken vocal minority. Which is very passionate about an issue. And not an equivalent. Groupon other side. On behalf of israel. I think. We shouldn't wait for that to happen franklin's i said. You don't have to recognize. And we don't have to wait for. Some hundreds to to meeting the united states and israel occasionally joined by the marshall islands are the mariana islands so that political support is important to and another message we need to send to washington. I just want to add that for anybody who ends up watching this performance. We will come and speak to you especially you know any group but we've sent out invitations to over 30 synagogues in the metrowest daily alone. And have received not a single reply other than to tell us. On three occasions that they would never let us speak in their synagogues to get to speak to the larger jewish community and the jewish community at least the organized religion. Wonderful uu churches and and the sabil organizations. For those of you who are watching if you are organized in your church or synagogue or mosque or any other. We think that this issue requires a lot of dialogue. We probably ought to bring today's dialogue to a conclusion. 4 piece. Requires of the torah self lights out. A justice. Wherever people perceive their lives to be dominated by military occupation. We here in america should remember. But there is going to be a perceived sense. Of continuing injustice. Violence to easily breeds. Richmond violence. The quest for peace. The quest for genuine democracy. Requires real dialogue. About the meanings. By which. This is suck. Whether those memes are grounded. Get human rights. An internationally recognized law. And injustice. And i think it's jeff klein and howard 104 testifying to those values eloquently this morning. Making cumin and real to us some of the realities on the ground. And the occupied territories of israel palestine. Won't you join me now he and thanking them again with your applause.

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030914_Jim_Sherblom--Economics&Core_Values.mp3

Good morning and welcome to first parish in needham massachusetts. This is the second in a series of public forums that were holding this falls in our congregation. On the general theme. Current economic issues and enduring simmons values. One can't be alive and awake and listening. Without being very aware that there has been something of a crisis. American. A crisis of confidence. Accountability. Transparency. The crisis of governance. Question,. What is it. That has changed. Or that has made. Expectation. Donna. On the part of business leaders. But a tentative thing. And so many instances. Investors. Are becoming so much more worried. Of the figures that corporations public. What are the pressures. Find themselves under. Norm. Bet. Call sam the bb-8 from. Has done more directly address issues of not only epic. But the underlying spiritual atmosphere. That our culture and particularly its business leaders. Must face thinner speaker this morning. The member of the first parish in concord massachusetts. A graduate of harvard business school and bo college. And began. With a small firm. Here in the boston area as its chief financial officer. Upper mouth no longer quite so small. Call jen stein. Back. Financial officer when it really became. A large public company. He's been the chief executive officer knology. And today he functions as. Principal and chair of the board. I'll see flower ventures. A venture capital firm. In the area of medical and biotechnology. Perhaps what's most striking about jim's biography however. Is that he is also in the final stages. All this preparation to enter the unitarian universalist ministry. I have a quartz cautioned him. Not only on economic grounds but practical one. Not to quit his day job. Tell somebody who helped. The trust of investors. Manafort. Of leaving his partners in. Business venture behind. As he takes up ordained ministry. Which will in no small part be grounded. Not only in congregational life. But also in an ongoing concern. Spirituality and ethics of the business place. And i have had the privilege of several times. Gathering. Business leaders. Principal chief executive officer. To come together and retreat. Sure candidly. Their lives their business. Ethical and spiritual issues. That they encounter. I could go on about how much i've enjoyed getting to know this guy. I'm just delighted that you get to know him this morning as well i give you. The reverend. The john suggest i talked this morning on corporate scandals and critical values. I would like to keep things so you can. Most of it probably disappear. Those five things have to do with honesty. Integrity. Accountability. Proportionality. And transparency. And all of them. .. If you. Start with honesty. The fundamental human problem. There's something in our brain chemistry. If it's an opportunity to just send it a little outright.. I went to an elementary school. We we do it because it's right not because we're being want. And left there after 6. Still putting up the ten commandments was telling someone i got to sign up a shop knox co in the courthouse i think says nothing towards solving this problem. I do think so if we accepted the tenant that we ought to be basically honest and i will a shin chips and hold each other accountable we can move in the right direction. Respective. Obfuscation. Well everyone. I reminded of the junior high school to justify their cheating on exams by the fact that everyone. As unitarian universalist perhaps. Ten commandments. Conscious out you're into connection with another person. If i am part of this. Environment. And i am feeding you. And that is a difference. If i don't have any responsibility to you. Helps to start addressing some of these issues around honesty. From a different contact. I don't want to leave honesty that without pointing out the next. Compounded by institution. I would like to think the politicians. But we all know it's about. With enormous consequences. And then. Ask make his decisions around this basic honesty. Doctor contact why i think this is a problem and why i think the solutions. I called the story what price success. Problem. And we would still be together. We all had management. And stop.. Do in the parlance of the 1980s. If we made a lot of money in this year. Syria. Target. Action problem. That wasn't his fault. Salesman. I would have the effect of. December. We would have the effect the outside world. And it's actually had told me this was what i was thinking of i might have missed it because. Numbers. I'm thinking about what might the president. Taiwan. Listen to the problem you listen to potential solutions. You know it's a cheap. But i would. Which i took. But it's not my problem. Find a way to fix it. Problem. I think i should go back to the vp of sales and safe looking i don't know what we're talkin about this morning. But i would. A second alternative was. Outside the company. I can just. Abcd. We would come out. I didn't want. Do i. If they don't have the contacts. Cocker adult supervision. Integrity. Will be tempted to keep some of the time. Adult supervision is critical. Second point. I can't tell you how many people i've met. Including some you use. Who have one. What they apply to their family and the sunday morning activities. And a different set of ethics apply in the business world. I also can't tell you how. Corrupt. In the world. Same person on monday morning monday morning. On saturday afternoon with your kids as you are on tuesday morning business meeting. I'll give you mostest. Rehab facilitation. Small brokerage firm lower manhattan. Who makes a living by calling up people who have the means to buy stock. Ss waiting on the. In fact. So we got to work with one of these. Act. As i got to know their managing partner. To make himself. Under. And most. And putting those two inside a bring them into sing. It's something i found very difficult to do. If they wanted to represent. The first one. The person who i sucked into senior vp. I needed to give me a riddle. The second is that their bosses. I had a very interesting conversation with. Community. I think a lot of money. Because eventually these kinds of activities to catch up with us. I think. Turn down customer. And his famous comment. There's no amount of money in this universe. That would make you a text. But in the 80s. Antibiotic ointment. Some of the profits. 3 * the bonus. It's surprising that it took nearly another seven years. By violating its own sense of integrity. Now i guess i date myself. Because i went to college. College. Country. And responsible to for your community. Still alive. It's this notion that you have these accountable. Accountable. And i said earlier. If i'm getting something at the cost of this broader community and i am. I'm taking something away from the communal good. And when i talk with executive. And in any integrity first society. What universe do you live in. This is the universe. And for the lodge public companies everyone of us in this country isn't stakeholder. Affect. And by that very nature we have. What's going on. This month. And this is not something i would. Already having. Theraflu. I taken the company. This new biotechnology companies b. That we had this new technology. Alzheimer's disease. But to bring it quickly. Six months later i have found a good bit. It would have quality company. I persuaded the owner. I had a bank. Copacetic. As we start working for the process. The stock market was falling. And my stock was falling with it. Better off. The same time. Coming up on the finals. I have an all-cash offer on the table now. I said yes. About. Weather today. To finish so i could find out where we were. Good morning morning call me at home. I have some food. Okay. I said okay. I don't have that much money. Fastest loan. You haven't yet. Disappointment. In fact. I said i went to border monday morning we closed that afternoon. Ejection. And the house is in my wife's name. I have. About to. For the mid-size trucks and the specs that i brought to it. That was funny because they hits on a ventilation taking a mortgage. Heaven. President. Resident and i said. Had gotten into trouble. President. Close. If you would personally guarantee. $2,000. I just guarantee 3/2 million. Simple solutions. You have to operate with that in mind. I'm. I'm very supportive of pre-market. Put flea markets with adult supervision. Understand. Other than america. Table that we can ask. But this still is an issue of proportionality. Good. I'm pretty sure those people i don't want to.. Did the professor. Publix when i was building genzyme report. 1980. Which tax 1500. Category. Category. I want to satisfy them what they want to do with their life. Category-b were people. And hope that the money would follow. 1960 how many. 87% category. And 13% category b. I graduated. 20 years later. 101. One category a. 100. Category b. Beck's. Is that the main motivation. Yeah i don't mind making money. But the failure rate. This however they came in and it's we get excited from their excitement. Everyday of the week. It comes back to this issue of. You have some sense of proportionality. Which is that at one point in time when they first started measuring this for american businesses about 50 years ago. And that ratio today is risen to be about 400 214 the lodge public companies. We can have a debate over with sasha nality is appropriate. It it sure. It's a system run without proper adult supervision. I would be. More than 100. Urt. We attempted to go down this path by making it no longer tax deductible. Octonauts. Can you make it consistent across the whole playing field. Because i don't want to be the company. Rather than another company. We can put back into our people are paid. It's hard for any of these. This proposal i have of. And most employees. I think. Across-the-board. What is one piece that i. Baxter. The typical american has never heard about. In 1853 right before the civil war. Population united states represented a little more than 5% of the population of the world. And,. Overlap hundred fifty years. Anaconda. It's not it's not logical to expect that no matter how big the military. Time to proportionate return. Indefinitely. Now whether we return. Make the proportionate. But when people talk about it. In the process of us be balancing this. Except. Location. Is that every politician in the country. Because they. Throw out the first adult supervision. It reminds me of. A very basic almost. Preschool. Stage of moral development of the epochs of the playground or the marketplace. You scratch my back and i'll scratch yours. Best. Not necessarily. This is 100 players no market. Opportunity. Need to be closely supervised. They haven't moved beyond that level of moral development. The weapon that i believe was taught by two in the honeypot well-built. Biotech. He got his mattress is rated by as i want to come. Iphone doctor. It's it's one of those things. There are other people who build. I have people who work for me. 5 years ago 10 years ago. I'll get them. Do nautical in nature. The prisoner's dilemma. What they discovered was. Trusted each other. The returns to the system went up for hole. At the point untrustworthy. Start destroying value. The inside. They make it more. Utmost. What does he say about the orientation to the world. I would run. Not walk away from that. I just want a question for clarification on that last figure that you gave with the six times income was at. That the average americans median income is 6 times greater or the total income of everyone. That's at scottsville jackson thinks that will have some dampening effect but i would love to see more. Effective lower-income. But when i see mice. Pricewaterhousecoopers now is scott an initiative on the way to move half of their tax preparers. India. It's going to see that trip that the lodge federal jobs outside. Who common. One of them. You've been talking a great deal. Personal integrity. Blatant. Enron people. But. It seems to me from. What i. But their primary responsibility is to their shareholders and no one else. And they must make a profit and that therefore you could have someone who. Adopted that siri. And acted. 100-percent ethically according to it. Problems. Ivory. Google. Now what. Boulder. Go to college. Inherently. Respond. Well. If we got out of the double speech is sometimes. Skip highest reported earnings per share. Let's maximize shareholder value. Let's figure out what those shareholders really want. Electra glide how do we maximize. Value. I'd certainly like to see people doing things that way but i don't see much evidence that they do which brings me to the. Second point. I use mansion set. You need adult supervision on the playground. But. Looking at the. Political situation today it seems to me that the. Largest companies have pretty well bought the supervisor. There's nobody around. Irritating. I think we have a challenge that we have a question. I am given space. Joe kennedy. And putting him in charge of giving. In the country. Figure out how to make. I would like to find a problem. The last time we were together over a breakfast meeting. Are we work meeting with tim smith who was the founder of the interfaith center for corporate responsibility. Was one of those. Founders of the whole movement for shareholder democracy. And one of the topics that will be bringing up there later in the. . is the exchange that's taken place in nature of shareholder activism. Particularly as it's been led by nonprofit. Robbie cody religious community. I got the privilege of president of the uu way of subs. Fining. A resolution to go before the. Challenging some of their employment practices. Dobson scissors. What nonprofit investor we held some chairs. Simply calling. The issues. To their attention and to the public attention. Enough for the management to decide that indeed. This could be changed. Your optimism jim but i'm i'm also tempted here to tell the story. That i shared with you last week. The movement against adult supervision. It's pretty pervasive. The enron story. As i began to dig into it. I found actually begins. Wilson story. Commodity futures trading commission. Scared by wendy graham the spouse of the former senior senator from texas. Making the deliberate decision. To completely deregulate. The trading in energy futures. Shortly after. Using that post the public responsibility for that purpose. Wendy graham resigned from. Her presidential appointment. And went on the board. Of the enron corporation. Entered its audit committee. All the way through the now fairly clear. Conspiracy. With which their auditing firm arthur andersen. What's implicit. The disguise both internally and externally the real nature of some of their business. I wrote to the new york time. Asking when we could expect wendy g to be summoned before a senate committee. Where to be indicted. I was surprised that a rather succinct letter did not get printed. But editorially i could explain it by the fact that the few days after i sent my letter in. William safire the conservative columnist printed and op-eds. On the pages of the new york times. To testify or be invited. But if that were to happen. Perhaps they would also summon a demon. The spouse of the democratic senator from new mexico. Who was. In charge of the antitrust division. Of the justice department's for four years during the clinton administration. And immediately on leaving that post. Went to work as a consultant for a corporation called global crossing. And as a matter of public record made 26 million dollars is a consultant from them. We now know the global plan. A dishonest enterprise. One of the things that i hope we will continue to do. Siri. Is the apart. A fostering an atmosphere. That brings the bear on the economic issues of our time. The very values that you decided this morning so application. Skip religious communities can't discuss these issues with honesty. Proportionality. Accountability. How can we expect. The larger community of business leaders. To feel. Those things. Themself. Thanks for promoting the dialog. Can i get back to my trip. Thank you for the light.

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030921_Charles_Derber--Economies+Core_Values.mp3

We have some truly distinguished speakers in the series but perhaps none more distinguished than our guests this morning. Professor charles gerber. Of boston college. You may recall. Came to visit me when i was president the unitarian universalist association at the behest of an organization within our movement called unitarian universalist. Or adjust economic community. Primarily to talk about youtube economically. And since i am nothing if not someone who is skeptical about all extreme points of view. I spent most of the hour that we had together. Really rather. Arguing. The conservative position with him. About. The inevitability. Economic integration. And as i'm sure he'll do with us this morning. He was powerful inarticulate. In pointing out to me. Just how important it is. That we pay attention. To the actual impact. Of all of this really rather remarkable. Integration of artflow. On real people. Real community. Real environment. As a writer who studies the big picture. Of our culture. And of arklow. His most recent book is entitled people before profits. Entitled. Corporation nation. How corporations are taking over our lives. And what we can do about it. Is a public intellectual primary background in sociology. But he is also a professor of political economy. He writes for a broad and public audience. His most recent books has now been translated. Into such languages is german and chinese. And he tells me that he's off shortly on the book tour. That will take him to. A number of countries in europe. Starting in german. I think that it's wonderful that his. Speaking tour can begin here in needham massachusetts. Without a whole lot of further. Well thank you very much. i remember our conversation i actually don't remember your. Everything. Please in conversation. I don't like. I understand from john. I understand that you have this series that has very much. Close to my heart about how human values and economic systems. Impact each other and. I'm actually very interested i am such a beautiful morning i'm. I actually just lived in dedham and but i haven't been in need them for. Couple years and just really enjoying what a beautiful town is and. So anyway i'm appreciative that you're here if that's fine of your. Commitment to exploring very important issues and lord knows we we certainly really are in a situation in the world today when we need people who are. Engaged to me questions then and 111 most important want to try to make a difference. So i'm actually as interested in your views as you maybe in mind so i'm i don't know what the normal format but i remember from john that i'll do a little talking maybe for 20 minutes or half an hour or something like that. Maybe left and then i'm looking forward to a conversation with you that we can. I'd like you to raise questions points disagree with me i'm sure you're going to have some. Challenges to the kind of perspective i take and i'm just looking forward to this conversation. So. I want to address the address here. Ideas that i put. Operation. The central economic institution of our day. And if we want to look at the relation between human values and. And our economic institutions we really have to focus on the structure of the corporation. I'll tell you what my basic fundamental a political issue actually connection i think of politics and economics are. Inseparable. The bottom line for this in terms of what people can do is that the solution to the problems that have been created by overwhelming corporate power. Are political in nature. Address them has to flow out of fundamental moral and value for him it's for sure. They have to translate into the democratic. C-rad interpublic axon. I actually believe that. The corporation is a fundamentally. Anti-constitutional. Structure it's not consistent with the american constitution. And it needs to be eliminated that doesn't mean that i believe that business should obviously we need business and we need large business we need. Concentrations of capital but the way the corporation has evolved. Politically legally constitutionally. I think it's fundamentally. A threat to. The democracy that grew up in. Airforums of this nature. And actually he brought back in american history. Expecting like a profound. Radical or even crazy idea the idea that we should eliminate the corporation. It was actually an idea that was much discussed in the time of the founding of the republic. Important. Political debates that took place in places like new england public places like dedham where i'm from in needham. War between jefferson. And hamilton. The two most important political thinkers in the early days of the republic. One of their central concern was exactly this question. Weekly put very simply. Are is a corporate system. Consistent with a. Democracy. Can you have corporations that democracy to manifest. And as you know jefferson position was a corporation would never put in the constitution. Jefferson's position was that. The concentration of corporations would eventually destroy. A democratic order hamilton. He was trying to defend an agrarian rural. You do kind of system again. The inevitability of capitalism and hamilton. Despite all of that person's flaws that he. That he had his finger on the pulse of a very central issue. From. The beginning of this remember i. Did you can predict turo-turo. Church was. He says i say in the mirror i see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves man causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. Corporations have been in throne. Corruption in high places. And the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong rain by working upon the prejudices. Until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the republic is destroyed. Anybody want to guess. Yeah that's a quote from abraham lincoln. So here was lincoln following. Jefferson. There was something about the corporation that was inconsistent incompatible with the basic values of american democracy. And actually i could give you a quote from many many president. Very interesting. That that explored. No. Let me see. I think the way this issue is being understood today is that one the corporation is inevitable. And. Put forward the idea that we can have a responsible corporate and i will serve the interests of society rosehip city interests of money. I regard the corporation as it's enough. God didn't make. Corporation. And if a car hold. And. I regard the corporation as having increasingly despite all the generation now long discussion corporate factoria. I want to focus on a different side of it's obvious that corporations have greed in our you can go if you look at what you're wearing today your shoes of your shirts whatever you know that those are being made by people. Who are contractors for major corporations retain their workers. Literally. 10 or 15 cents. You know an hour. I've been to a lot of days some. Sweatshops around the world. I know all the arguments about why corporations going to these places might be good and there's some validity to these arguments but. None-the-less corporations are. I think increasingly predatory. In the most hamilton. And that is to say they swallow up. Matches the lives of workers. Ann and the environment in certain ways. They are. The nature of the political. Culture and the political system is south and they create. Our governments and the nature of our public life. And that's the theme i want to focus on. And at least. What can be done about all this problem. And the bottom line on this is what i will call regime-change at home. We had a lot of discussion about regime change i'm actually just doing another books with that title. And i mean that in a i mean that the cute thing you see the cartoon so i mean it in a very serious that's why i want to put it just flat-out what i mean by that idea. I think we live now in a corporate. American politics. Is the history of regime change. Regime-change. As i said the very first political discussion in america was between the the jeffersonian. And the hamiltonian and that and the hamiltonians largely one out. And. Then. The emergence of a kind of of capitalist order in them in america and every. It's different than party change political party sang the democratic party in the current corporate regime. Different than revolution. Have not been revolutionary changes they they preserve the catholic order in a large set. Elections with resume trash. Example of window claim got elected in 1992. From george bush's father. That was a shift in the white house from. From republican to democrat. I believe that since the civil war. There have been in america. Doesn't happen very often the first was the. from 1865 lincoln predicted. Big corporate lawyer. The first. Regime was the regime that specifically last it's 1901 when teddy roosevelt came in. And. It was a string of i don't know how many of you can name the president between 1865 and 1901. Good idea name more than. 34th president. You probably can't, maybe you're all history buffs in you at you know that's what they're pretty unmemorable because they were all doing the same thing they were helping them operation take form and take power. In an american life they were mostly republican they're only democrat. During that whole period was a guy named grover cleveland elected twice. 1984 1992 as a as a business-friendly quote new democrat had a lot of resemblance to bill clinton. And. His first words when he came into office was that big business has nothing to fear. From this change in administration. And when people ask him to try to help the workers during the famous homestead strike in. 1894. Cleveland said i would rather dissolve the constitution then see what you're asking me to do. In other words he was already very committed to the concept of property rights that the corporation had a pet emergent had developed at this point. And. Grover cleveland nineteenth-century. Dell clinton. Was already. He was a democrat or republican president during that first corporate regime or republican. They spoke with a competing voice for the same regime. I think that's what happened today and this takes. Economics. Structures with our basic values. Is going to take a fundamental change in the democratic party. Because it's the most important political reality. Right now is that the democratic party had become part of the regime in the sense that i'm just driving it. And that. Beth and i are really two kinds of politics in america. Normal politics. Sandra jean chang politics. And i think what we need today is a politics of redemption. I do understand what that means when they go back in just review the successive regimes that i see. The first corporate regime at the end of the 19th century. The second regime came with teddy roosevelt and it was the progressive version. It's actually a very complicated. american history. Roosevelt of course was not trying to overthrow capitalism any with a bit of an imperialist. Important. American imperialism. And by the way imperialism i know john is going to talk later about iraq. Come back from iraq. American foreign policy is very tied to regime. I'm interest corporate. Corporate regimes are by their nature expansionist and that has to do with the. The. The needs of of corporate corporate of large corporations. As they get into a. Global competition and survival different. Story but it's i just want to say this. Great foreign policy implications. And let me add one other thing. That's very important in the new book on writing about regime change at home. Which is that. Corporate regime is by nature a regime that cannot tell the truth. About. It's fundamental operation. Fundamental values is fundamental mission. And at the rack. Are part of a larger set of deception that are part of a corporate resilience. Most fundamental system. Years ago so i'm pulsar correct use the concept of dad's face. It's about individual he said a person is in bad faith when he tells himself or she tells herself live. Fundamental. His or her identity. That they can't be admitted to oneself. And. Start describe the process by which an individual comes to be and dad say. Because it to acknowledge the truth. Would be too difficult it would be it would be in some way. Inconsistent able to live without identity. Corporate regime as i said is a kind of system. A power. That uses the rhetoric of democracy and popular sovereignty but actually create. Welchol corporate sovereignty. Where. Power is fundamentally concentrated money and corporation. And we're control the predatory nature of the corporation. Developed by the actual hijacking of the of the governmental system itself. For corporate rather than human purposes. And. I believe. Following progressive regime. Which lasted through woodrow wilson after the end of world war. 1. Was the second corporate regime which took place under it and the roaring twenties than them at the place under harding and coolidge and hoover. Hoover i guess what's the largest. The teapot dome scandal under harding. And coolidge was a little bit of a. Sign of a enron crisis to come. And is. Characteristic of corporate regimes where. Corporations gain control of washington. And the ability any kind of public accountability. I rode in a dangerous way and creates these kinds of masses. And the scandal. Do we have a second corporate regime that ends of course ended disastrously 1929. And that led to the fourth rasheen. It was the gilded age was named appropriate after the civil war the gilded age regime the progressive regime. Then there was the roaring roaring twenties. And then there was the new deal franklin roosevelt. Which was the longest one of the optimistic is about 23 years old it really began. It was a transition. but it really began in 1980 with reagan's election but one of two regime-change election in the 20th century i think. The second the two great regime-change elections in the 20th century were 1932 and 1980. No actually 1968 when nixon was elected. Was the beginning of a transition letter deal with beginning to fall apart. And. That didn't the current corporate regime with the guinea to come into. A formation. Highway in america. Evolve not in incrementalist way. But through great transformation through what he called paradigm shift in science like from there tony and science to. Einsteinian science appear these greatly. Is that. Play doubt a fundamental theory. And then normal size and prices. Accumulate. In the scientific theory of a time. 2. Hold on to the old paradigm becomes a form of bad faith. You hold onto the old siri. But it's no longer really explain the problem. Laid out of a major regime-change election like a new deal election or reagan's lays out. Lays out a major change. But then. Paradise. Chilling in the puzzle. A difference is made. But it's not a fundamental difference. Changes the voice of the virginia but it sustains the basic values of the regime the basic discourse the basic institutions. To break from the new deal. The new deal had not yet structurally. Read this file tamale. Vietnam with beginning to. Destroyer united states what they would begin to go into death. But nixon was. Free. Clean air act environmental alcohol. Would have liked and tried initially to break through the discourse of the current regime. He would have like a try to get some major health care reform in the beginning of his administration sell for. But his advisors who represented the corporate sector that had begun to really take control the democratic party with clinton. And before really. Had were telling him he couldn't do this. And essentially you know the sort of tragedy beyond clinton's personal problem of the clinton administration was that he was locked into the framework of our current corporate virginia. So he'd ended up doing a lot of the thing. What happens to president in the opposition party. During a current regime as they end up actually ultimately fulfilling aspects of the regime that can't be done. By the lead party in the racine. Example talk about. The end of the government under a new democratic party that would. Yo century and welfare as we know it in his language a whole range of policies that were essentially consistent. Clinton ideally would have like to do. But he was sort of locked into the paridon or the structure of existing machine. Now it seems like i say tend to have. Relatively. Limited life the longest name in it was the new deal with lasted about 40 years. Current regime began in 1980 so it's 23 years old. And. We're beginning to see as in science basic science and politics. Talk about paradigm shift in policy to wait like overseeing changes in politics. Regime changes in politics happen when a problem that can't be resolved within the current structure. And i believe. That the crisis in iraq right now. And. Current enormous problem of jobs. And that that's accumulating in the united states right now is a sign of. Structural problem. That are beginning to accumulate in the current reviewing the can't be resolved within film framework. Like problems with a newtonian physics. That couldn't be resolved within the framework of physics and required a new. Framework. And. I believe that the corporate regime is on track to imploding. I mean the most clear evidence of this is in the debt structure of the country and the projections for. Dad and the global economy where united states. And and the maintenance of the system through much of the early start after wwii. Today is united states it's so deeply in debt. To the chinese. Structural management of the system. And nobody else. Is in a position right now to provide either so the structure is careening. Toward. Massive. No crisis argentina symbolize one such crisis but there they exist all over. And of course. This puts maybe what you're saying about a rack a little bit in a picture that i like to think about. United states is no longer able able to hold global economy together. Joe economics. Large ass and the kind of self-sacrifice that. Aaa system a world system manager requires it resorts to forced to do so. Because countries that are being subjected to call economic policies that don't work for them. And that are leading to the perpetuation of the intensification of poverty and equality. Eventually begin to try to create a new regime for their own country. And united states try to prevent that through. Military man sissy. So the use of force. You ask why has nice day. Become so much more. Interventionists and unilateralis in recent years. This was going on to some degree under clinton but it's much more expensive accentuate under bush. I believe it's partly related to these structural problems. In the global economy and of course it's terrible for the world and for the united states because. The very things they were doing presumably. And the war i do to to deal with the war on terrorism are actually bringing the conditions for more terrorism against the united states. That's my the idea that were in a structural reality. A regime let's put it that way. That. Dominated by money and buy bixby institution of the corporation. And the fact that both made people to go parties have become so captive the different sectors of that regime. That way i'm not trying to suggest. That there it makes no difference between the democrats and republicans. The differences are meaningful. But they're simply not meaningful enough. To provide the kind of basic changes that would align our economic system in to be consistent with our basic values of both morally and politically. And so that's why i say what we need is regime-change and what that implies. Is. What would we do what what from this perspective what what do we have to do we have to work on political change. Horses related to moral change in. And in the end the conversation the country changes in discussions like this it might go on all over the country. Ar. Political structure political system is is operating today. And that's not the conversation that goes well beyond who can be in the white house. In 2000 for adults. 2004 election. The three kinds of elections in this analysis that about their regime-change election with a very rare 1930 to a 1980. There are status quo election. Which were like all those elections in the late nineteenth century when it was just one. One corporate president after another. Difference whether was a democrat or republican. And then there would i call regime election but could significantly. Move transit for example 68 was a regime change a tip election when nixon came in. Couldn't or the great society. But he began a process where he was already structurally beginning to. Unravel. And he moved it along and prepared it for their coming onslaught of the reagan heights in the reagan revolution. Ic 2004 as a regime tipping election. Is not going to be in a position to change the receipt because the democrats are too bought into the corporate order. + 2. The structural contradictions if you want to put it that way or what, spoon coffee and now i'm a lady. Haven't been sufficiently intensified in this country yet although they're getting there pretty fast. To actually explode the regime. We're getting closer in my view. And therefore they are mentioned. Is the one educate people about these reality. Play talkin one about the fundamental incompatibility between. Corporate. But. One way to think about it is that. Example. In the corporate regime of the late nineteenth century there was the santa clara acting 1886 which define the corporation as a fictional legal person protected under the constitution. Interpreted the fourteenth amendment as constitutionally protecting the right of corporation. 2. Never been entitled to protection under the constitution for. Each of the regime say. The constitutional changes. That have either. Furthered corporate power and sovereignty or limited. Putting in the priority of human rights in human body. You're going to have to be one that dress that addresses because you don't the reason that corporations are able to pour so much money into washington today is because. In the first corporation name and the current corporation the constitution has been so redefine. Define corporate money as speech and to redefine corporate speech as protected under the first amendment. True about scrutiny of corporations for example around environmental issues corporations are able to prove to claim constitutional protection. I'm from government coming in and doing spot checks on various kinds of pollution. Violates their constitutional rights to privacy. Constitution. Came in 1886 on the first corporate regime. Had got to be eliminated. Requires a lot of active group. For 2006. A provision that would strip. Prick constitutional personhood from corporations in massachusetts. Now that's a regime change kind of initiative. And several states in many localities are working on these issues for example. That's one example if you want to take down a corporate regime. I don't remember that this is not based on an animus. Toward business i want to make that clear. Non-starter. Try to say to a country where most people are working for corporations and when they seen the benefits of corporations are given to say. This is an evil system. It's basically say that this system is capacity. That part of this larger thing is. Is creating terrorism is creating unacceptable joblessness unacceptable death. Because it's not capable of managing and it's in bad faith. It has to resort to ideologies of deception. Perpetuate itself because. Yeah i'm going back to start fourth ideapad faceit can't really. Survive by by telling the truth about itself. So i think. I'm going to stop talking right now i think basically it you get the basic. Framework that i'm coming from their lot of actions on a local level. Mn schools and churches medications that are consistent with the traymore much of it within the democratic party. Or potentially within third parties that would. Allen. Monopoly of the two parties that only allows discourse corporate discourse to be the central discourse in the regime. We need revenge change at home. And stop worrying about receiving until weekend. We can accomplish a kind of democratic regime changes homework and be engaged and regime changes abroad. Because i won't have much credibility people have been saying our how to keep you expect people to take us seriously when we can't get it right in florida or california about how to run election to make elections work in iraq. This idea is more fundamentally true. About the way our own democracy. It's like something. help. Wide-open conversation thanks thanks a lot for your taxes yet. Republican and democratic parties are. Embedded. Realistic. The rise of a third party. Well of course. Aurora called the people's party which was. Populist party in the best sense of the word head a lot of negative aspects to it but it has. Get it focused on the issue of corporate power which is understandable cuz that was the first time america corporation could assume such great power. And they got several million votes and they capture the democratic party william jennings bryan their candidate in 1896. And they were beaten by the enormous. Wealth of the robber baron finances they were poured into. That 1896 election and they pretty much melted away partly because of the power of the money. The corporation's of the time in trouble because they were not really dating 2004 armors. Couldn't really speak to the immigrant worker. Groups that were growing in importance at the time. The history of third parties. To create but third-party. Regime. Work normal politics and regine chainsaw. And we're getting into an ear of regime-change politic. And politics is about reconnecting the. Are failing to address the needs of people. And therefore you've got to change them. How do you change a mainstream parties that come out of. Unions out of. People whose basic educational needs help neighbor not being met. And in a corporate in the background. Because you know they're there externalities to the basic lodge until assist. So. Essentially i think that third parties. Are part of a general permit in a system of regime-change politics. Will help to make it possible to get. The democratic party. Back to a democratic. Value. And like i say it's difficult because the whole constitutional ship that i talked about a little bit. Make it very difficult to survive politically without very large amounts of money. Which is what corporations are in a position to. Concentrated. Intensify both at home and abroad. And i think people are going to people are already 40%. 60% of americans now co that's the basic economic coffee the country in the health policy all the domestic are off track. And they're increasingly questioning foreign policy. America's global power and, foreign policy. Is turning countries against a knife. Might be creating a. He better more terrorism. I think that as a problem to the regime i mean in the twenties there was a crash. You know that ended that regime. You didn't have a third-party do that but the debt but franklin roosevelt the democratic party in a very basic way. One you had very severe structural problems. In the late 20s early 30s. And you have this spontaneous. Who were having we're on the street as they were being a different there wasn't a labor movement really at the protective workers through been lost their job. Which is again. Relevant today we're not i'm not suggesting we going to need have another new deal i think it's going to take a different form the new deal spent itself. A idea way. But we need. Vision of. A different democratic party. That's really different. Is that the party that's not the domina party tends to become a copycat party. Of the party in power. And of course people tended to the real thing over the copycat. And you've got to develop a really strong voice now how will the democratic party develop that the boys and what will it say. 1. It's only it's not going to happen from the leadership of the democratic party because they've because they will be pulled. Back into the mainstream discourse. It'll all remember. Like just like that i'm a leave right at the top. It operates out of the needs and interests and discourse of people who run the regime. It's not a democratic system. It's pretty much peripheral. He pretends to hear it to have to. But it doesn't listen. And. So do you have to have. Really powerful movements of people. Anchors activist institutions like. You know churches. Really enter the fray. And say you know this is not consistent with our basic values it's not consistent with our basic democratic life. And we need a different democratic party the third party. Is an lr44 sing chang's in the democratic party. And it may be able to get a lot more traction on the local level. A lot of venus's will happen at on the local and state-level is recognizing that. Everything is intertwined much more closely from the local to the global right. When you try to do certain things that lionel stacy. Try to do certain things with the big dig. That the world trade organization can prevent you from doing them saying that you're and that's in fact real life massachusetts tries to prevent. It's buying from vendors are doing business with girma. Atl can prevent that from happening. Global issues. Are going to happen. Locally and i have to admit they're going to build over time. Yes. Potential regime tipping alexa. You think it makes. Any particular difference. Which of the. Current candidates we nominate as a democratic presidential hopeful and if so which one's duty is more committed to the regime and which ones you see as more. Trying to work against it. Who are clearly regime-change canada. Percentage sharpton and i'm oddly brown. Because of the. Structure of power in the regime they don't have any possibility in the democratic party or in the primary the chance of getting nominated. Unlikely ramona. The grayman probably in edwards. In some way. And then you have candidates. Flights. And clark and carrie are well within the regime. But will. We have yet to see. Unfortunately our friend center cary is well within the clintonian framework that is. Call tristan. Difficult part of this. Transformation of the democratic party has been going on in washington for a long time. And. Dean are a little bit more unknown callers their clearly within the regime but they. They have. Like i said. In transitional euros. I think the only person is interesting more than others. For potentially helping to tip the regime further. Fundamental dynamic is not going to come from these people it's going to come from the grassroots movement on the ground and the structural problems that are doing it. I'm so. There might be some difference in. Rather than. Warning republic. Come along. More like regulatory progress. Yes i think that that. Ironically in a second term. He himself could be a regime changer. If. The catastrophe of 2004 should be that bushes re-elected along with a republican ideological majority in both the senate and the house and in the court. This is an ideological regime that in some way breaks with the regime from the right. No not all the foreign policy. The domestic policy of. The ideologues and parts of the bush administration are really consistent with the corporate resilience. And it could break it from the other side in a really scary way. Gas price of the world and the toward you know when you get when you get a. A melding of large corporations and government you've had sort of proto-fascist kinds of systems and the war on terrorism provide the perfect ideological umbrella for that kind of development. Under conditions of structural crisis in germany in the. Late 20's and 30's you got a change. That was frightening. Another possibility. Kind of structure to it. And i suppose clinton couldn't move more not direction and jonathan jesting or a clark or carrier somebody like that might move toward a progressive kind of regime change. I think that that is. That is the desire of the elite. Who are on the more liberal side of the equation. They don't want to rock the boat fundamentally. The best shot in a more regulated. Corporate order. I think that ignores two things one is the depth of the structural crisis of the wristband. And the death of the system the failure of the global economy the regulatory order is not going to solve those problems that we currently understand regulations. Regulation has largely been an ideological, don't dismiss the importance of regulation but the ideological concept. To reconcile the power and anti-democratic impulsive corporation from the needs of the people so i do think. That they are the most likely democrats win the way clinton did under a business-friendly or they could move to. The weather will take a regime change i don't know. Or we hope for a more democratic. I'm more democratic thing that would go take more more groundswell from the grassroots. Navigate delray. Give me the contact for jean changing for the globalization of economic. Change music. World bank-imf in the wto. Started with. At least let mitchell. Impulse of altruism. That is helping the developing nations. Instead of. Exploited the labor exploited the natural resources. For example in africa. Burden. Impact. At the very very good question very important. It will increasingly have. As you suggested over the last two decades. All the way back to bretton woods institutions were formed. Has been trying to create a corporate reviews abroad. That are simply fit into the corporate regina home and it's me which which are global in character. Our efforts by the current regime. To create a world version. What's interesting about the current regime as it's the first. American corporate regime. You know. That the first gilded age was stupid corporate control at home it didn't really expand. In the twenties. Again after world war 1. You're taking the fall apart of the united states was not in a position to really make that list it's the current regime. And that began with the formation of of wco in the imf and the world bank that began the project. Exporting this museum to the rest of the world it isn't working. The regime is unraveling. And you've got countries like argentina and brazil playing we don't want the free-trade of america's we want our own latin america trade pact you know because. And i am there recognizing that the whole set of rules that. Are contrary to what the united states did when it was developed. American manufacturing developed. That's what it is if we just let down our agricultural subsidies than the third world. What would develop well is is not really an adequate way of thinking with your articles on it but it doesn't really. Which is that. You can't develop. Poor country can't develop. Unless it has control over the corporate money come in to help. Can help. Foreign investment can be done in a way consistent with the control.. Rather than this sort of. Quote photos. Open system that the world trade organization the i'm at the so forth are requiring on a country. Our guests over the next two weeks are worth mentioning before we closed the session. Next week we'll have the privilege of hearing. Founder of united for a fair eaconomy someone who is very much working on the grassroots level on the issues of economic justice here in america. The following week dr. julie nelson economist at the center. Or a development and the environment at the fletcher school of law and diplomacy at tufts university. Our. Again. Charles derber. What is just say one last thing. Dom. International debt. I was really struck. Reading the results of the last sale of united. Treasury bonds. Over 80%. We're souls people overseas. Order discover as. Was doing research for my own sermon. Norma. Amount. Public debt. Held by saudi arabia. And how influential. Concern. About those who are our debt holders. International policy. There are. Things to worry about. Structural anomaly. And one of the things that i hope will do. In this series is begin to explore what some of those are. Thanks so very much.

uuneedham_org

031116_Neil_Alper--Economics_of_Crime.mp3

Good morning and welcome to first parish in needham. I'm john deere into minister this congregation. And i welcome you to another in our ongoing series of public forum on current economic issues and enduring human values. Topic that is often discussed in the press. With how we manage prime. Actually reflects a good deal. Question of what economic conditions promote prime how to think about it from economically point of view. And what the public policy implications are in the whole field. We are fortunate to have in our own. Professor neil alper is. Professor of economics at northeastern university is the author of both a. Text anna reader entitled. Very well. As the spouse of one-time president of this congregation. Without any further, think about crime. What's was a public policy issues. Department corrections in the state of tennessee. Examined. Are going into town prisons in tennessee. Yes i do look like rod steiger's movie of when he was a sheriff or whatever it was. Trying to work with the department corrections to develop training program. Second story ideas for the department corrections. Valley bowling workers in the labor market turn around and employers want to hire them. I have a criminal record. So we spent some time looking at. Play 102 try to help and work for the state of tennessee to develop policies to. I've been involved in this area long time for quite a while when i came to northeastern after 4 years of torture is 4 years in tennessee. They felt it was important for their students. I've been here at northeastern. I basically caught this course on an annual basis at least once a year to over 100 students a lot of time. And as john pointed out don't like. You don't want to buy it anyway but any case textbook to the textbook and that we put together basically to highlight what economist of done in the particular area be, to prime. Alright that's where my background. How i come to this i haven't really been doing a lot of research to help keep up with what's going on. To update. I haven't done my own research and instead of going on. How to approach this particular topic for this particular audience. I'm not one who really likes to lecture by the way i really like given take so maybe we can develop a give-and-take as i get a little further into the discussion and. If. Affect public policy. Example of one of them. Fundamental beliefs. And that's the idea of competition. Competition review is being a desirable outcome in economically. Okay. Zachary competition. Whether they do that or not is perhaps the matter question. The idea of competition and perhaps. Organized crime. Think about organized crime. For organized crime. Competition. In criminal activity. Currently on public policy has implemented right now when you look at what the fbi is doing and other law enforcement agencies and they believe that competition is better. Boston we're going after cetera. On the other hand. Criminal. Violet. Okay more violence because organized crime organization the firm. Right. Having a deal with law enforcement. Okay. Really want. I suggest you perhaps it's not the right way to go. But certainly if we believe in economic beliefs that doesn't make sense. Put another concept of economic competition of profit. Batman production. But all profit boudin in krotz. It creates incentives for wharf talking about. How can i deal with. Well now we're getting into a little bit of conflict between economic. Are currently competition lot of profitability but. No. Rather than. Back to competition. Because we have a lot of competitive activities that are good. I'm talking about copyright patent and trademark. Okay. Now what does that have to do with with with obviously with a lot of crime associated with. Okay. Recently. Recognize that name. Had the copyright law.. Particular character in the movie industry actually. Copyright expire this year. Copywriting mickey mouse under the original law was adopted by. 2003. Thanks to. Go to his campaign. How do i. Downloading. Downloading file sharing. Environment. I really talk about value. Trying to convince these young people that what they're doing is dealing. Is a very hard thing to do. They don't buy into it. It's just not something they accept. Whatever it is and put it in your pocket and walking out of the store. They just don't see it as such. Why. Well they all have anyway because they're going to have more concerts and we're going to go to the concert with a lot more likely to go to if you're the music. What do we do with parents who have children of the generation why are why is that not due to the crime. Don't know. And clearly has an impact on the economy. Earnings of artist performer. Record company. Record production. Produces enough profit or pretty profit so that 85% of the other music that produce just doesn't make any profit and if the record companies can't make the profitability on that 15% because we're all downloading music. We're going to be a wealth of musicians out there perhaps could be recording and aren't going to be able to record it. How do we convince the young segment of our population that this is an economically on that has a cough. To the local record store. They're going out of business. Reorganizing. Vedantam taking this young generation. Why. We don't download music as much as are our grandchildren we are. Downloading music. Has has an impact on markets in economically. Another. I think we heard a little bit about this before. People behave rationally. Rational behavior. Alright. I don't know that i'm going to try to convince you all that particular logic. We use that same. You walk into your bedroom or whatever and we don't know all the time. We are willing to accept the fact they're going to accept the fact that they're perhaps and some are on crime that aren't rational. Now what is rationality mean here why do we why do we talk about this behavior. What are the things we've done in our society recently. Okay. That hasn't. People trace vacuum. I can't look at ryder can't prevent overhead you'd like me to do this. We incarcerate more than 700 people. Closest competitor in terms of incarceration is restless at about 5. Five to six times higher conversation. Where did where does the money come from building prison. And of course the other issue with the mindy syndrome. Not my backyard where to put a prison i put the greatest prison that exist. I love that 128. Very high incarceration rate. Is it make sense. Early 1990s. Number two, as well as the crime rate. Crime united states in the last decade has been decreasing for a couple of glitches in the last year or so. Their other explanation incarceration might not have. That criminal activity i'm sorry that incarceration rates of had any significant impact of increasing its impact on criminal activity in the united states. Police. Equity in terms of benefits from the criminal justice system. Criminal justice system is paid through taxes we want more police we have to pay more probably property taxes because multiple. You want to incorporate more people. I know i have a judge sitting in here i should probably begin with a careful about what i think of it. How many states have income tax. But not all of them but most days using it with your sales tax what do we know about sales taxes and who pays the sales tax. Downtown boston. I live in the poorer neighborhoods of our state in our country. Bear. Who has the most to lose. Operation. Evidence. I are mixed evidence that. Typically the security in the prison between 20 and $30,000 a year to the car through somebody. Depending where it is. The person that much in terms of secondary education i don't know what it is. Not sure exactly what it is. Well i can say there is a great deal of evidence that greater education leads to less likely. Have the numbers in the bag of white minority young young people in italy. Clear lake. Is it cost-effective to better off putting them in prison for life. Question perhaps. .. Look up. The evidence. Life in prison you know you expensive than putting somebody to death. Ignoring the fact. The additional trial cost in california. Beck & hart real person for their life. Without parole. So. Making decisions based on cost-benefit analysis which is sort of uno. Can izzy avenue when you can order. Evaluation and examination of criminal activity. Rational behavior. I forgot to get some crimes are not rational. Project pat. One of the things that 4:30, depending production. So you can think about. Crimes of passion we still need to produce that particular murder. Evidence of facts that people say that people are irrational. 104.. Where we going with it. Perhaps apology application of this would be we don't want efficiency in production in terms of murder. Pacifically. How can i decrease efficiency in producing this particular. But make it harder for people to get guns years ago. 4000 % anyway go for that. Maybe some ways of dealing with. Production of murray make it less efficient. Delete the courses of called personal weapon. Personal weapons. Personal weapons are basic legal to carry with you while you're talking all the time. Your hands are your feet. Well. Think about what. What you're doing. Using the concept of belief of rational behavior. Started with our children are our grandchildren downloading music which is very rational. The benefits are quite high expected. For that crime that i can buy. Looking at crime as a as a rational act because. Many criminal perhaps not all criminals. All right what else could i want. Rational analysis line design. When you come to formulate public policy. I know this is a chapter in your book about the optical music. Addressing. Phenomenal. Based on research. Are those. We are addressing crime today. Interesting questions. I don't know i haven't even thought about that. I was. Pictures of legalization. Criminal activity. I'd like to hear. Who sings we could talk about. That if we decriminalize some of the drug laws in massachusetts. What are the numbers i decided to pull out of here. What do they write it down here on my. We could stay more than 24 million dollars a year. Sportsman car. Criminalize. Making it. Not that it's not a crime. 24 million dollars a year. Better education educating people about the dangers of. Educator job. Where we are. Using a better you're asking a question. I'm sorry. When i was studying. The criminal justice system in tracking system tennessee they were a whole series of programs. University pet programs where you can get a college degree or even a high school degree. A lot of those of disappeared out of. Out of prison. How they were money more work release program of course they don't have anymore because i keep people in prison in rather than given the opportunity to go out and try to ease back into be at work for so. It's not funny, you know. Ups and downs. Pantaleta more property crime actually from the burglaries and robberies. On the other hand. Affect criminal activity which one is more important that you know i don't know that i would want to say. Corn you want to do it more than once. You mentioned the subject to increase crime. By increasing education increasing employment opportunities. A criminal of committing a crime. Call susie o'donnell. Psychic benefits for example. Trying to make it so that you know there isn't as much pure approval that comes along with criminal activity which would be a benefit. Would be something that would be something that would recommend an apology recommendation to comes out of economics. There are other apps. Directly to your question georgia. Raven costume. Education rate of the opportunity call. Clearly a cop. Apricot. Hard to think about courage. Cytotechnologist. Even going around by the metropolitan area. You know one of the things. That's one way. Your hand outside. I want to be a kind of think about gambling lol favorite. The economist don't do investigative work in terms of who is running the businesses. I don't know. What time is it. But the question is. Gambling. I can remember that you can probably remember better than i can. Now gambling. In the country but it pretty much as most of it. Massachusetts lottery. Has it had an impact on organized crime probably it has actually they're probably getting more involved in other businesses. But the problem of course with the legalized gambling. My understanding is that the pay offerings how much you get back for you for your bed is still higher with the illegal gambling. Indeed. Economic argument. Or a compass. Externality. Legislator. From the casino industry. Promote. Text problem. What's some of the. External clock. You're absolutely right my response to that is remember where they came from. There are few places in the united states in the higher education weather are still department of political economy. But what happened to coruscant. You really can't separate. And what. You can take a cost-benefit analysis anyting. You mentioned could gambling casinos. Takataka politics. Are often used to justify public support for gambling. Probably don't look at all the negative. There's one other guy externality what comes to mind you've spoken about the place i was incarcerated. Bourbonnais politicians like president. Externality. Aparentar incorporated. Children grow up with their parents behind bars. Are more likely. Criminal activity as a pattern to embroider. Let me know. One of the primary statistics. In terms of. They'll write it down where was it hang on one second i need to get on my glasses. Lifetime chance of being incarcerated in the united states based on when you were born and also based on your race i'll bring up cuz i think it's a very serious question here. People born in today 2001 7% chance. Incarcerated. If you break that down by. Our author. Had a four-point 4chan. I'm going to prison at some time during their life blackmail, 30% chance. I'm going to prison at some point during their lifetime. Houston confirmed. Based on current pattern. And how they are and what that means to us for the future. Near the decreasing crime rates over the last 10 years. On what was driving. If you look at 4. Opera tampa my son my oldest son who graduated medium-high and 90. 5. What the smallest high school class senior class in embossed in needham for many many decades. Flexibility going on throughout the country. That that population that would most likely be committing to the populations of country. Of course the niners are also suppurative very good song economically rope. Not too long ago. Demographics. Going for it has going for it. Some of the other issues perhaps. Does crack cocaine market for example. Competition had already killed the organized. Detective firm into our society. Richard whittaker ekali in the early to mid 1980s. Purdue products to evolve and then they put a calm down in business competition but competition. For driver's lessons island. 1 factors. Many other factors publicly available. Volume discount theater. I would suggest that you know didn't have no effect and affect. I don't think it was a primary determinant i think. In fact last year. Concentrating at the same high races. Before. Higher incarceration rate. Better explain what. Very quick it as an economist do you break down the the types of crimes and i'm picking. The white-collar criminal who ends up maybe in danbury connecticut tonight. Pocket racing perhaps then something else. Purses. Crime white collar crime in in. What else. The problem with white collar crime. Never makes it to the court. You know you fire somebody and you don't even even under the prosecutor because the company doesn't want the publicity. Your former company at these being named these days who have felt. White collar crime is it harder to get a handle on because we just don't see it as much. Imported businesses have a disincentive to report it they try to deal with it in a. Typically in perspective prime cost this country. The dollar value. Depending on the study one that was done in the early 90s. Estimated current dollar values of about 500 billion dollars of the cost of crime and. Annual basis. Another word complete. Done by an economist it was published in the journal of law and economically. Estimated later 90. Activate about 2 trillion dollars. 11 trillion. Crime just caught. United states a great deal. And i'm not saying we should have. I can help. Delta policy. I think i'm going to end with a little reflection on your remark that rationally none of these good people brought an umbrella on this bright sunny day. One of the kittens. Benefit. Of my line of work. An umbrella. There is always. One of my favorite little couple. At the theological point. The rain. On the just. An unjust fella. But west falls on the unjust. He has to just umbrella. As you reflect. Especially the discussion. A criminal justice policy. I hope you'll go back to this. Discussion. Our reflections. Not only needs to take into account. Economic. Arguments littermaid for public policy. But the scrutinized very closely. What economic is used in impacts are not being considered. Within the argument frazetta. What are the externalities. And that always raises. In every public policy we touch. The consistent theme of this entire series thank you for participating in it and one more thing to professor norwalk.

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20110605_flower_communion_ed_lane_homily.mp3

Raised catholic. Became a baptist at the age of 18. Came to the united states and with his wife majah. Join the unitarian church in orange new jersey. In 1921 when he was 50. They were led there. Who had shopped around the area for sunday schools if they like. Then came back and said to the parents to unitarian church is the one to go through. They returned to prague. Weather started the unitarian church. Which soon became the largest unitarian church in the world. And they built a check unitarian movement. Both of which. Still exists the church. church and the check movement. The flower communion. Was created by him in 1923. In prague. And it is celebrated today worldwide and unitarian unitarian universalist church. Jopek was arrested by the gestapo. In 1941. For listening to the bbc radio. He was convicted in court. It was deemed a minor offense when he was sentenced to a short time. The murder of a nazi leader took place about that time and the gestapo reacted. Entropic was sent first to dachau. And then too hard slime castle in austria. He was executed in jest. In 1942. But check unitarian movement. United group of people. Tropics animals to bring together protestants catholics jews. All based on tropical words. So you read in the service today. We are like these flowers. Different colors. Different ages. Different sizes. We are different. In so many ways. What each of us is beautiful. And important. You know our own way. Like these flowers. The varied kinds and colors of these flowers. Symbolize our diversity. We do not merely tolerate diversity. So you can do that if you want to it may be stupid but does the free church. We do not merely tolerate diversity. Because we are all in rich. By the presents. Of many different perspective. You would not enjoy being in the church. Where everyone is your clone. I couldn't stand the church ball me. We go beyond pluralism. Exclusively. I was very much involved. Alan the last line if you want to look at that sometime it's in the front of your handle don't bother with her now but in the last line. Jose. Principles and purposes. We use the word pluralism. And none of us who were involved in writing this question back. It's one of the greatest regrets of my 50-year ministry that i didn't question. Because going beyond pluralism to inclusiveness. Is a huge difference. We are better person. And this is a better church. Because we each bring our unique and very qualities. Do the bouquet. That is our congregation of adults. And young people. Vision of the inclusive church. Is central to our mission. Among ourselves. And our mission. To the larger human community.

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050130_Lyceum12_Partakers.mp3

Anita massachusetts unitarian universalist. Can a moderator of the forum. Many rather severe. Arnaz. The first is a concern for all. Prison reform. Criminal justice reform generally. Nicole partaker. And this morning. The assistant director of partakers irreverence laura. Call this whole area and then an opportunity. About what we can do. In order to have. Better dealt with in our community. Thank you.. Paris and needham and also all of you who are watching us on table access this morning. Department corrections. Her eyes were opened to the number of problems and the real need for rehabilitation within the system and she felt called to found an organization that would address those issues. By the mid-90s crimewave gradually being cut specifically to prisoners. So one of our signature programs at heart acres is college behind bars and we recruit volunteers from paris's around the greater boston area to mentor prisoners to get their four-year degree. While in prison at the organization is to reduce recidivism through higher education and public education. Mentor prisoners in this college to degree program. What that looks like is a group of four to six people who will take on a prisoner and be their mentor for the duration of their degree or as soon as they're released whichever comes first. And so now we have about 35, since they're involved over 200 volunteers in about 90 prisoners who are being mentored or in college-level courses. The congregations financially and emotionally and spiritually support these prisoners and they provide the resources so that prisoners can get 9 college credit to apply to the bu program and that's where this program is so unique because pell grants for prisoners. So this is this is a unique program because at the height.. Mid-state. Wider context for this issue is that there are over two million americans behind bars right now. And we have the highest incarceration rate. In the world at this point in time and it's growing since 1980 the prison population has quadrupled we're talkin about a billion dollar industry facilities. Perspective. We spend more on corrections in the state of massachusetts then we do on public higher education. So those numbers have been increasing and. The knot theory imprisoned. The lengthy sentences and the cost the state. So to give you an even broader perspective about 6.6 million people. 630,000 people every year return to their communities from prison. Looking at a crisis in our communities. Communities at some point in time. So we're talking about long and short sentences where there's been limited access to rehabilitation drug treatment. Any kind of mental illness support. I'm in the prison population and then their return to the. More and more faith communities are starting to address these issues and it really has the attention of the black community and. That works against them really the more that were hurting the community at large and making it ultimately less the safe for all of us so the costs continue to rise both in terms of incarceration. I'm just tired of helping people reintegrate back into the community people with the higher education again are more likely to stay out of prison but also more likely to be hired be able to maintain some. If you'd like to take a look at them and you're going to do question answer after debra has a chance to. Are prisons than any other population facts 13%. Are in prison so and that is something certainly to be concerned about. For all of us it's specific system that is disproportionately focused on young black and latino men. Good morning how i started to get involved with partakers and what we have done over the last 5 years. We are working on reviewing the draft statement of conscience and will be having a meeting and weiland on the 13th of february from 3 to 5 if you would like to participate. And provide some feedback i was introduced to the criminal justice system. From my home. Separated me from preschool children. Five years ago, yellow with our ministerial intern he is currently on board of partaker. Brown society for their crime i felt called to attend. Eloquently and compellingly about our prisons and those who are in prison. What's needed to provide the financial emotional and escaped prisoner scholar. Earned a college degree. The woman. Intercity a lesbian. Although her actions were not premeditated and it calls 911. 9 months i just learned a couple of weeks ago. 9 months in prison before. Was heard before judge never had a trial he just went through a plea bargaining process. We met again informed covenant group.. Since that first meeting. Escape in heaven key to my survival and my feet for adrian as a public service librarian i facilitate access to information. I think education empowers and expands the choices in our lives. I believe in the inherent dignity of every person and i believe. I was afraid of. 2 knots with myself. I feel more comfortable experience and to bond with each other. Raising two daughters on my own has been a very talented and enriching experience for me and adrian is similar. Long-term commitment. I support. Providing tuition assistance for discounts learning college courses purchasing at cato materials tutoring. Writing letters acknowledging her birthdays and other special occasions with cards & gifts advocating for her with her attorney and the courts and providing a lot of encouragement doing academic research. During these years apart a group group of sponsored informational forums and discussions former prisoners have come. How many educated and helpful. They were able to get in touch with. Only accused and convicted of crimes. We have a group of drug policy and death penalty extensively on the prison experience we had provided support to prisoners sentenced to life without parole. We participate in the program. We have shared our experiences drink joys and concerns in our community and newsletter articles and with the. Children and youth extra parent and we have conducted several church services during the summer and during the church ears. Lastly we laughed coordinated a program with the newton unitarian universalist church for to coordinate group. Summer i attended the sermon award at general assembly for which was another a minister of. One of the members of our group. Bro. Personal association with adrian. Included a greater understanding of the massachusetts correctional system and the need for changes. Appreciation for adriance willingness sit there with us space to make it out of prison. Growing friendship with partakers being compassion and determination. Remember adrian and supported her through rough times in prison is supported. But i feel there are very few degrees of separation between us and the potential for a catastrophic mistake that brings people into our prison system. Would ibs praise is adrian challenges of race sexual orientation in poverty. I can only hope that i would have some of her cards faith and determination in similar circumstances. This has been a great gift to come to know her. Work a very unfair system. Thank you testimony. And correspondence over the course of the year we ask that group and it is primarily congregations but we do have some individuals to get together and sponsor prisoner. Which is partakers. org and we're also located at 11 garden street in cambridge. Church in cambridge. Going on about some of our sentencing. Area. Sentence. Massachusetts year per prisoner. Pill for her sentence. $450,000 over the course of 10 years nonviolent drug offender with children who are not even. People that are affected by the criminal justice system still during in particular for those women are incarcerated it's really incredibly costly. Elevated. Unlock. That has made this. Education possible for for prisoners conditions their community outreach they have made this. They're the top of their lists and terms of community outreach and the degree once prisoners are in the program is an in-kind donation from bu. But there's no cost to the prisoner once they're in the via program. As part of your background you mentioned that. We've gone from a high of over. 300. University education for prison program today. And i think we all know that during the same. there's been an effort to go back parole. Mandatory minimum sentencing systems has come into place. And. Massive. To bring back the death penalty in states that they can have it. Has been part of. An even wider effort. Across-the-board. In areas such as welfare reform. Port to public education. Any form of social support. And to impose a harsher. Protection. And. Program to subscribe today sound extremely worthy they're trying to stem the tide. Yeah and you use managed to rescue maybe 90 prisoners out of sticks. It seems to me this is. Not. Addressing. Problems what can we do about the. Spiritual corruption of meanness. Whatever. Discovered in this process is 20 people and we are changed. Going in it's amazing the metric system that we have to support. I see it i see it every time i visit adrian and he is within her environment and how to and how he will continue to give that we have given her. In our society is represented by prison. Which include barriers of class and race. Economic circumstance in many instances. Testify. Our common humanity. And. Some of the cultural spiritual and ultimately legislative. That would make for more humane solutions. I always teeter on the brink of preaching myself here. Professional habit. Kings dominion. Things that you're doing is humanization in the process of our justice system and in that it does something for them but it also done something for you and that. Your ability to empathize with those people and begin to understand that. But for the grace of god. I could be there too i think all of this week that we had a more restorative system in an arcis id and that goes so far back that. You know you can't even. You're guilty and apologize for what you did. Hearing rather than a trial. Tries to. Absolutely impeccable. Are you. Under the big circle. There are. Montgomery court of got the contents would think they're go and communicate with the work that you're doing to. Andre thank you. Which is often contracted. About it. Victims healing. Background it seems to me and i'm kristen so i. I look to the christian scriptures for my understanding of this it seems to me that. I understand that everyone has more than one chance in this is for me to the resurrection. More than one chance. Time and time again were called to a deeper understanding of ourselves to renew ourselves. Spirits of the sister system is set up right now really says. You've done wrong go away from you and start actually believe that that time set apart is a time for reflection and to take all the rights away so that you have the time and space to take really take a look at yourself. As far as i'm concerned it's discontinued cycle of abuse. Petition or confession or whatever it's either there's very little room for kind of for healing to happen. Within the current system and i believe that healing takes place in community. Where you're living a real chance that you won't get to the place of healing and that's where these these groups are coming in mentor. And then meetings. Adrian or gray. Camino irony. That her background with her eating like yours and how do we heal across those when we find similarity so. In my own understanding of the human spirit. We're being called into deeper levels of healing and without communicating it's really impossible in the system is not set up for that right now. Different programs but the system as a whole is not designed to bring 12 restoration to restore somebody to the community to help. And for the. Thank you laura. Thank you one of the teams this year or this year for our social action work in the car taking up in family homelessness and last week with the youth group at pine street in and that caused me to reflect on. What seems to me to be a large role that homeless shelters what kind street in. Play in rehabilitating people into society and i'm wondering what. Comeback. Authority. Prisoners have come from very. Poor. A poor state. And we're. Bouncing could be bouncing around and even having a home before they go in and then they're in prison and connections that they had the family onto the community have been so severely broken that they have no place to return to so the rate of homelessness among ex-offenders is extremely high can claim. Sex offender. It's very likely that your return to crime so that's it.. There's no separating. Incarceration. When are state mental health hospitals all across the country were going through deinstitutionalization the expense of housing. People with longer-term mental illnesses seem to become burdensome to our state legislators. Chard. From state mental hospitals. 2. I took part in a program to help create supportive group homes for example into as well as to advocate for better community care. Going on in the criminal.. As a matter of law. Publix for aftercare. For those these supported reintegration. Not into the communities that the institutionalization would seem to call for. Typical prisoner. I'm leaving prison. I don't know if i can answer that have you come across this in your research. I have heard stories of prisoners actually being dropped off at the pine street inn. On hancock in scrubs to the pine street in so i also want to add that we have about 150 and don't call me on the number exactly who are living in solitary confinement in walpole. How long are house tour that they've been in solitary confinement. Also get released. And that's happening every single year. And people are saying it's been a long time and isolation up to 10-12 years and isolation which if you have any symptoms of mental illness they will be exacerbated. While you're in solitary so this is a real public safety risk as well and i visit somebody out and isolate and years. Difference. Different tickets on get $20. Are there other questions and comments. Over here to get a degree. How did the selective candidates. With the longer-term issue of how do you deal with someone who. And then support so i'm interested to make sure that people are moving through it. Process they can take the credit that they burned through bu and transfer them to a community college and get an associates degree first they can also if they're close to graduation apply to bu some alumni scholarship fund. Aetna college to finish out their degree so take care of them once they. Once they get out but there are ways for wednesday make a quick clear prisoners how they can at least finish the associate's degree and further and most some really have there on that piece of paper so they are. And then ice picture of children and then on top of it yet. It's really tough so we encourage. As much as they can stay with it take as many near courses at least three person assets that you can send it. Does takis have any connection with these people after the 4-year.. Or is there another agency that is set up to help them. Find to get a piece of paper but that's meaningless if you can't do all those things you just mentioned. Over four years now. For the first time and we're actually in strategic planning mode as we speak to partner with those agencies that help with ranch operations cuz it this point in time are applications with collagen casing for in prison purposes. On the other side answer the prisoners sponsoring group. We are actually currently working on. Is that your model actually said something. What you offer. A transformative opportunity in our society. Service to others and supportive relationship. But you don't stop there this morning is a testimony to the fact that what comes out of this. Understanding of the problem is necessary. Service leads to social education. Action on the social problem. Cast of twister. Informed and how it can be ameliorated. Imperative. Broader and more effective citizen advocacy. Religiously paid to do and. I really offer my compliments to you for the moving testimony today i wandered before we close i understand. United score. Director. Call terri personal work. Partnering with people in prison. And helping them to achieve a college degree. Understand the need for new approaches for criminal justice in our time. Next week. Brown. Call israel palestine. Volunteer work. About the need for justice making and ultimately for so long for kalam.

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20120401_when_we_fool_ourselves_john_sermon.mp3

Few years ago my wife gwen was serving as. Kaplan nursing home. You made her practice to greet everyone. Whether they were responsive or not. And to leave each person with. A simple blessing. One afternoon if she took her leave she leaned close to a woman who was bent over in her wheelchair and said quite loudly. Peace be with you. The woman who'd been either dozing or was hard-of-hearing or both looked up and startled said. Pizza. I don't want pizza. No no. Not pizza piece. The peace of god. God delivers pizza. Ask the woman. When shackled all the way home to me. You should have told her i said. But sometimes it's the kind with both pineapples and anchovies. And arrives at 3 a.m.. Whether you ordered it to or not. No actually i don't believe. That the eternal. Bothers to play practical jokes. On us mortals. Although 40 years of pastoring ministry. Have certainly introduced me to plenty of occasions and people who have had good reason. To think. That way. I'm reminded of native american spirituality them on the other tradition. That refers to one manifestation of the great spirit as the trickster. And even revered new england poet robert frost once suggested. That perhaps is epitaph should read. Forgive me lord my little jokes on the. And i'll forgive thy great big one on me. Prosthetic difficult. Almost tragic life. Farm orland. His public persona revealed. His father died when he was still a child he struggled. Struggled mightily. 4. Same as a poet in for security. Even found. But. It didn't prevent. Tragedies like a son committing suicide. After which he wrote. I turned to speak to god. About the world's despair. But to make bad matters worse. I found god wasn't there. Actually this better moods. Frost was more inclined as i am to agree with the great jewish sage martin buber. That the eternal. Almost by definition. Is always press. It's only we. We who are so often absent. The one another. The wonder of life. In a little poem called prayer poet marie howe rights. Everyday i want to speak to you. And everyday is something more important calls for my attention. The drugstore beauty products the luggage i need to buy for the trip. Even now i can hardly sit here. Among the falling piles of paper and clothing the garbage trucks outside already screeching and banging. The mystics. Say you are as close. Is my own breath. Why do i flee. My days and nights pour through me like complaints. And become a story i forgot to tell help. Even as i write these words. I am planning to rise from the chair. As soon as i finish. We fool ourselves. Into thinking that are practical worldliness or are. Piety and meditation. Are good behavior or our good intentions. Will protect us. Against bad things happening either in worldly ways. Or to our inner spirits. Despite our efforts of goodness. Life doesn't work that way. Jesus put it in the sermon on the mount god makes the sun to rise. On the evil and the good alike. And sends rain. On the righteous. And the unrighteous. You can win the mega millions lottery. And still make a mess of your life you know. I know i know. Test me oh lord. I think both the passover story and the passion week. Story offers some pretty good example. Of how. How often we human beings fool ourselves moses. He hears the voice of god telling him to leave the hebrew people go before pharaoh to demand their freedom. His response. You gotta be joking right. People are going to listen to me. Much less. Farrell. Believe me or trust me i'm not outlook one. So god lets him take along his smooth-tongued brother aaron. To do the talking for him. 6.21 sign of god's displeasure. With egyptian oppression after another. But the more they do it. The harder pharaoh's heart seems to become. And even when they do win their freedom. And under all the mythology god alone knows how. After the angel of death takes the firstborn children of egypt that passes over the houses of the hebrews after the waters part. Still the people fool themselves. Into thinking the freedom means that life will now be instantly easy. Think about those who thought the same in the arab spring about a year ago. Life doesn't work that. Instead of being glad not to be starving they complain about their diet of mana. What is it is what the word means. Many want to go back to the fleshpots of egypt some new year safety and security. Even under slavery. And instead of accepting the responsibilities of those 10 suggestions. That moses brings down from mount sinai. From an unseen god. They prefer to make whoopie around the golden calf. That's like old aaron has provided. Maybe it's true. But it took 40 years to make the relatively short journey from the problem to the from egypt to the promised land because even back then the men were too stubborn to stop and ask for directions. But more likely it's because the whole generation. Including leaders. Had to die off. And go away. For new ways of thinking to. In the passover seder which in which one and i will take part this coming friday at my sister-in-law's table. This we do every year. Will be questioning the old story. And how it applies. That's built in. Whether the questions come from the wise the wicked or the simple children's the only foolish child is the one who says what's all this. This old story. Has nothing to do with me. Perhaps there really are only two kinds of fools in the world. There are those who take. So much worldly wisdom to heart that the only story that matters to them is their own story they're fools. This 12-step wisdom wisely puts it you don't really. Have to understand a darn thing. About the higher power. Except you aren't yet. So when the psalmist wrote the fool in his heart says there is no god i think that's what. She was driving it. But even the other kind of fool. The holy fool. Who answers to a higher power. Is did moses. Or dr. king. Or the one who cried out on the cross is at times going to say my god my god. Why have you abandoned me. There will be time. When the presence of the eternal. Seems absent. The followers of jesus who greeted him on what we. Celebrate expected him. To usher in a worldly kingdom. To make. God's reign of justice and peace. Manifest. Here on earth in no time at all. So when he was crucified they ran away despairing. Only slowly did they realize. That what he preached. Was. Now there's to make manifest. That they could know it. Wherever two or three gather. Wherever the spirit moved among. The melted their stubborn foolish hearts. And caring for one another. Spiritual fools are those who live more in the world of what ought to be. Then in the realm of what is. We can try mightily to reconcile the two. I look back at my 40-year journey administrative vice. That seems to have been the whole purpose and meaning. That i have given myself to. But let's not fool ourselves. We unitarian-universalist including. Can be generous and charity. Courageous and social action. Can update those volvos for hybrid cars. Qatar carbon footprint. Stay informed by npr. Eat low on the food chain. Sign the petitions. Preach or listen to sermons that try not to insult our intelligence. Go to endless meetings. Help with a pledge drive. Do our good works. Make beautiful music. Support one another. Do many worthy things. And still be trapped. In an unattractive mix of verbosity austerity isms pretension pride arrogance self-congratulation. Or. Is it this very moment. Self-denigration. So let's give it up. And not just for lent. Surrender. And accept. That we're just human. Conscious. Because of that. Of the gap. Still between the is the author. Join the club. Because the biggest fools are as groucho marx once drawing. Those who send the club reading please accept my resignation i don't want to belong to any club that it would accept someone like me is a member. My collie jack mendelson is now in his 90s and on hospice care. Once wrote that a unitarian universalist minister is quote a person. Who is never completely satisfied. Or satisfiable. Never completely adjusted or adjustable. Who walks in two worlds. One of things as they are. The other. Of things as they ought to be. And loves. Them. A person with a pincushion soul and an elastic heart. My poet. Who sits with the happy and the sad. Can a chaotic pattern of laugh cry laugh. And knows deep down that the first time that the laughter's false. Or the tears make-believe. His real. Date his or her real days is a real minister. Are over. And if we are all really. Here. Ask to be ministers. To one another in a priesthood and prophethood of all believers and doubters. Perhaps it's because as jack puts it we all have dreams we can never hold this year. Partly because we have some doubts about those dreams themselves. And part b you because like moses or the one who spoke. Only in parables. We are unable to adequately explain describe or define just what it is. We think we see and understand. Beyond the obviousness. Thanks. To be a minister of the unseen. End of the eternal. In this finite world is continually to run out of time out of wisdom out of courage. Armani. It's to be her double. With great responsibility but very little power. Learning to accept others. Justice ar. Toilet stuff. And then to go with them on a spiritual journey. From here to there. It's to know all this and still be thankful everyday. For the privilege. The paraphrase jack the future of our approach to face. Is almost entirely dependent on two factors. Perhaps two sets of fools. Great-souled congregations. Whether large in numbers or small. And leaders who see the journey of life. It's just a chance to grow a soul. The strangers future he says about their relationship. Is that they see. Conserve. That fool is purpose in one another. The character of the 70s clown and social activist. Who called himself wavy gravy. Who once said. We're all bozos on this bus. So we might as well sit back and enjoy the ride. Just don't go fooling yourself. Friends. The rides not about you. Or your wisdom. Or even your lack of it. It's about the journey we share. The endless journey. The one in which the eternal is not just. At the end. Nor at the beginning. But is an unseen presence among us. At every moment. Speakings still. For those who have ears to hear. Present to those who have eyes to see. In the eyes of another. And hearts to understand. The unseen connection. The eternal weaves. Right in the midst of all of our foolishness. Encouraging the secret struggle. From every person. And urging us to use our limited powers. In the finite time that is ours his mortal. To heal. And not to harm. To help. And not to hinder. The bless. And not the curse. To serve. You will spirit of. So maybe.

uuneedham_org

20120205_creating_the_future_christian_sermon.mp3

So as i said i'm going to go today is a special day today we all get to be together to talk about what really matters to us. Talk about the things in our lives that we can do without him. Talk about what's really central to our understanding of who we are. And of course by that i mean the superbowl. But i'm glad you came this morning. So we can talk about something else too and i hope you have a wonderful super bowl party this afternoon. I'll start with a story. One sunday morning fella comes home from attending his uu church. His spouse who did not go to church that morning ass. So what did you get for a sermon this morning. It was shocking. Absolutely shocking i can't believe our minister would preach about something so shocking. Do witches fast replies with a certain amount of interest. Did the old bird preach another sermon about sex. No no the fella said disgustedly. He did his annual sermon about money for the blood drive. The little joke for house. But yes this is the sermon where i talk about money. But not just money. I hope we're going to talk about other things today too. I hope that it's just not me talking because the best sermons our conversations. Even if it's a little later that you'll tell me what you think. Are churches are beautiful things. They depend entirely on us. This church will not be here if we are not here. After all the churches us this gathering of imperfect people. We are the ones who come each week sustaining this community with the gift of our presents our attention. Our faith. Our time and our resources. We don't talk about this often enough how special and beautiful thing it is that this community exists that it has for 300 years and all on the commitment and resources of people like us. This group sitting here today. The church exists because we believe that it needs to. But it serves a purpose in our lives and just as important in the lives of this community. This church transforms lives offering a place of hope and healing. And a headquarters to live out the mission of making a better world. One person. One task at a time. For 300 years this church has been a beacon in this community offering so much. And because we have this past to build on today i'm challenging you to do even better. To do even more. Right now we can begin creating a future that builds on those 300 years. But has visions that go beyond anything we have seen before. This church this group of people. You can be a force for good in our world. But it takes commitment. It takes time. And willpower. And yes friends it takes our resources to. Perhaps you've heard the reasons you might not give. We might not have any extra money. It is unseemly to be asked for money in a church of all places. Or maybe it's the mixing money and religion is somehow dirty. But i don't think it's any of these reasons that makes us afraid to ask our fellow you use to support this church. With our money and our time and effort and faith. I don't think it's any of those reasons. I think it's that we're worried we might actually succeed. We might succeed. The writer marianne williamson said. Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. I think this is the truth that i'm sometimes scared to face maybe you are too. If we really committed ourselves and our money and our lives to making the world we dream about. We might succeed. And it might take a lot from us. It's scary. It's frightening to think that we have the power to make a world this world a better place if only we have the commitment to follow through and make it happen. We believe were called to make a difference in the world. Are churches provide us a way to make that happen. It's here there were nourished in our spirits. That we form connections. That we get the support and encouragement to go make a difference. That's why i'm involved in church. I imagine that's why many of you are too. And that's why it's so crucial to support it. Because justin our association there are more than 1,000 churches like this one. Trying to make a difference in the world. And it's our participation in this church that makes it possible. I see a promising future. It's one in which we have the chance to set the table for great things. As always our budget provides for the continued mission of this church. For all the wonderful things you know and love here. We will continue to be an open inclusive community that strives to grow and learn together through worship fellowship education and social action. As i often say in our welcome. We have so many wonderful programs and they are here because we support them. And this year we have a chance to do even more. We have a chance to give this congregation the foundation. Fritz next 300 years. This car gation we have a chance to to ensure that it will continue to have great ministry both lay and ordained. We have a chance to ensure our young people will have a place in community to call their own that affirms and transforms them. We have a chance to make this building. Where we sit today. Even more opening and welcoming than it has ever been. I don't have to tell the church with such a long history that settled ministers come and go. All you have to do is look at the walls of the sanctuary. To see that's true. Jonathan townsend 1722 1762 i don't think we're going to have a minister stay that long again probably. The church has had many great ministers. And i think it will have more. By supporting the 4th century funds we can give a leg-up to the stretches next minister so that they can do great work. And live here in this community. This church has had a powerful youth ministry and i've seen it in person. A week ago many of you saw the amazing young people we have in this church as they led service. We have committed to supporting our young people and through the 4th century fun we have a chance to make sure that continues into the future as well. There's another part 2. It's easy to get in the frame of mind that this building is the church. We often refer to it that way. But this actually isn't the church it's the place where the church meets. The church is the community of people here. We would still be a church without this building. It would be different. As some of you who were here a few years ago as the building was under construction probably know far better than i. But saying this building isn't the church doesn't make it unimportant. One of the goals of the four century fund is to make our front entrance. The face we show the world truly accessible. We will build a ramp so that all people can come in those gorgeous front doors and enter the sanctuary. I look forward to the day when we can all walk up that ramp together. Even if walking ensuring a wheelchair. I think all of this is the part of the future we can create. But it will take all of us. And it will take great things from us. We will need the courage to see our vision made concrete. Our dreams take form. We will need the strength to give ourselves. And that's no easy thing. James baldwin said this. It is rare indeed that people give. Most people garden keep. They suppose that is they themselves and what they identify with themselves they are guarding and keeping. Where is what they're actually guardian keeping is their system of reality and what they assume themselves to be. One king of nothing whatever. Without giving oneself. That is to say. Risking oneself. If one cannot risk oneself. Then one is simply incapable of giving. So i tell you again friends today we have the chance to make a difference. A real difference. A difference in this community of faith. In this world in our own lives. Let us be brave enough to make that difference. Invest your time your money your love and your energy. In making the world we dream about a reality here and now. We have the power to make it come true i truly believed us. We have the power to little life and which money does not control us but is a tool for us to use. Our church our community our family has the chance to make this happen. So once again we have the power to create the future. Invite you to join me and making it happen friends. Join me in creating a new future. Almond.

uuneedham_org

031019_Dr.Barry_Bluestone--Affordable_Housing.mp3

Current economic issues and enduring human values. Today in needham. Are paying attention to the crisis of affordable housing. We're doing this in conjunction with the jewish holiday. House of worship is going to have a hook-up on it. Property. About from one house to another. Get a sense of what holiday. Was meant to do. And the fragility. Shelter. Are dependents. On one another. And on horses deanda. I hope you'll take part begins this afternoon at 1 at temple aliyah and travels about the time they'll be at raleigh provided by louise condon realty. Like to take part in that and it'll culminate at the temple. we always have a sucker out here at first parish as part of our religious education program. We are especially privileged this morning. To have a guest. Who is known throughout the region. As perhaps the most important. The crisis in affordable housing. Professor and director of the center for urban and regional studies at northeastern university. Recently his center submitted of an extensive report on the issue. Of affordable housing. I've asked him this morning to please help us understand the background. To why housing costs have become so problematic. I in the greater boston area. Help us understand what the impact. Escalating housing costs are on our economy as well as on communities like needham. And lastly to help us understand. What we can do. And at the state level. In order to address the problems of housing affordability more constructively. Without any further i give you our distinguished guest. Good morning. Thank you for that lovely introduction. This is actually a very. Wonderful time for me to be here. Because i will say at the end of my remarks. We're about ready. Hobart 30th. Introduce the most important and sweeping piece of legislation. In the commonwealth since the 1960s. The deal with the question of affordable housing. Working with a wonderful coalition of. Housing advocates. Business leaders university leaders. Leaders from the development community. Open working for a number of months now to put together. And i'll give you the outline of it. Later in my in my talk. This is the first time. That i will have a chance to talk about that new legislation we're about ready to go across the state. I with a group of people talking about it and so this is kind of the maiden voyage. Initiative. I had the great honor of coming to work with me lol for another's at northeastern university. Set up an established a new center for urban and regional. The presidential bar university richard freeland. Headset the urban mission of northeastern is one of the key. A development at the university. Look at the problems. The greater boston area greater boston area. Housing in economic development. Very soon after we created the institution the institute the center. We were approached by cardinal law. Greater boston chamber of commerce on this whole question of affordable housing. And as the cardinal put it. Affordable housing is not only an economic. Understand. How and why we have this problem here in. Massachusetts. The result was that in 2001. We put out a major study. Paradyne for housing in the commonwealth. We laid out in detail. Housing prices in rent. The rectify the problem. The numbers were staggering. I found was that the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the greater boston area. $17 a month. Something like for minimum wage jobs in one single family. And then housing prices. The matter of about six or seven years. Today. The median selling price for the first six months of this year exceeded $500. For the meeting. Million-dollar. But even in the inner city of boston in roxbury. Housing prices have risen and if anything our analysis showed that housing prices were rising faster. Affordability. In communities like roxbury or brockton or. Charlestown norlin. Driving faster than they were in places like dover. Medfield. That should be available to people. Was going outside. This problem. What's the pricing for. Because one would suspect that in most markets if prices are rising rapidly. They'll be a response in terms of greatest. Beckett prices of oldsmobile that risen. But instead. . of time based on a second report we did call the greater boston housing report card 2002 which was released. A year ago this month. And will be released. We found the truck in the last three years that we looked at. Median housing prices going up by 50.5%. And we can rent at risen by nearly 40%. Expect. Increase in the supply of housing would see this as an opportunity. Look at what happened to the supply of housing. By looking at the. Building permit. It turns out that. From 1995 to 1999. We averaged something like 8600 new building permits. Building permits for individual unit and throughout the commonwealth. About 11,000. The paradigm report leah done for cardinal law. We had suggested. But in order to meet the housing. 2006. 36000 7200 units per year above and beyond. That 8600 standard units we were producing. Nearly double. Housing production. Account for the increase in the number of household. Population isn't rising very rapidly. Vacancy levels have fallen to the point. Weather. What is on the market. And less than 2% of rental units were on the market. 2000 we went back. How close did they come to that additional 7200 unit. 50% increase in housing prices. Despite a 40% increase in rent. Production had not only not. It actually. The total number of new permits issued for housing in the commonwealth heads in the face of a skyrocketing demand. This is absolutely not to buy. Why is the demand. Well there are a lot of suspects there a lot of potential culprit here. Did happen. Was that. And as a result. Vacancy rates fell dramatically. It turns out that normal they can see race. Are about 2% for single-family homes. I bet that these appalling 2.64. 6 of 1%. Housing market. And the result that we found was. Supply. You would have. Accuweather. Individual. Amongst. What is very limited amount of housing. Until you had. Right next door to us with a. Condominium. 1.1 million dollars for a 3-bedroom condo. But you had such little supply up here. How can you get enough supply created not only. 84. Butterfly. Vacancy. Fortunate. There were a lot of possibility. Right there just no land left for putting up housing after while. Fastest growing city in the united states where people are. Three-bedroom ranch python. High air conditioning. We look into that building as it turns out at you. Helicopter hover over greater boston. Landed vacant or land that has had other uses in. Urbanda music. But we quickly found that that's not a problem with developers they said no problem at all there's lots of land. Another problem that we thought might explain this is that the cost of producing housing here is a very very hot. The prices of concreter fire until 4. Higher than they would be in las vegas for cleveland or somewhere else. But that really explains very little of it. Part of the explanation. Building code. Leasing cars prices. Because of. Extra. Developer spend an enormous amount of money. Accountant in order to meet the requirements they have here. That could only explain a little bit. An indian what we concluded. Was it the major problem. Land which is. By towns and cities. The permit. The development. Modest price. But either required for single-family home. Three-quarters of an acre in an acre. For producing a single family home. City with basically band. As a result. What does zoning laws require it. My wife and i were invited by a friend of ours. And we went to their home in beautiful midfield. Wonderful thoroughbred horses. Actually do. And everybody else was part of the. Northeastern. I'm a housing committee.. Minimum. To the town of enfield. This is not typical. It is the kind of thing that you would say. What is perfectly rational. When you move to needham. Account when i moved to cambridge it seemed to be just the right size down and therefore you know after we hear there is a natural tendency to stay well now's the time to close the door. Why would you do that. I don't understand how people. Other than in the in the morning. Suggest that in cases where you build multi-family housing but with larger units allowing families with children. It is 13 here. Massachusetts witch with pattern after prop 13 california. Will not cover. We don't want to be in our town. And that part of the reason that you'd find. That communities are willing to build housing. People 55 and above. Because these are relatively. Conflict investment. Of course there are many many town to go out beyond 128 and i'll see on 495 we're perfectly happy to bring home depot. But have no children to educate at all. But there's also something me on that and i think it's critical and that is. The people will talk about congestion in people. People are nervous about building housing in which. And sometimes that's the dance on1 sometimes it's a vaguely veiled. Reference the people of darker skin color than many of us in his room. And therefore there's a concern that if we. That the character of our community. You're all kinds of subtle forms of. For committing. More than 35 years. Call for tv. Which basically requires every city and town. Is that the housing could be afforded by a family that it has an income which is 80%. Of the area's median income. And at that time we should not have to spend more than 30. Of its income. Either purchase a home. Orin rent. They're only about 25 communities throughout greater boston. Who asked. Boston. Definition. And some of the inner cities around boston. Neighborhood. Or 5% or less there are a couple candies that have no affordable housing at all. We be much closer to that goal. From developing. I personally think that is critically necessary as a stick. Hard about what kinds of. Housing production macon do. And that has lid. Current new piece of legislation. That the commonwealth housing task force. I will be introducing on october 30th. Before a joint session of the housing committee of boca. General court. And we've been working very closely with the office of commonwealth development. The director of the department of housing development. Wrap something that would add a set of carrot. A modest income. What has motivated now. That this is not only a moral imperative for people who live here. But increasing economic development. But it is becoming increasingly difficult. Competitive. Attract. Massachusetts. Out of line with that in other communities. Where am i. Incentive. For creating new housing. Significant. Just two days ago at babson college a governor romney held a. A special session with about 30 to 40 ceos. Major corporations that are house. And the question of the day. What are the barriers that the state is putting in your way to expand here in massachusetts other industry into massachusetts. Very first issue that got raised and was hammered for 40 minutes. Would not taxes. It wasn't government regulation. It was the hike on topanga. And one after another.. Difficult to attract. A recent study by the boston foundation in the boston indicator project. Shows that between 1990 and 2000. 17% before i decline. 17%. Population ages. Interview. Broccoli. But it's just too darned expensive to live here and starting off in our career. What we can afford to live comfortably. And that's been 50% arrangement housing. Yesterday. Where is greater boston going in terms of the economy. 2004 unemployment remains high and it won't come down to. The problem and the barriers that weekend. Is it creative home instead of carrot to get communities to do things that quite frankly they should be doing anyway. But they will meet. Capricorn is what are. 50-page report set. Number one. That we will create. System of water called special overlay district. That. An area of your city or town. Overlay on your map. Commercial or industrial or. Area. At the matter of right. Developers can build. Single-family housing. Units per acre. 20 acres per acre. Congestion and r-design. Two areas around transit stop and town center. Property. Industrial commercial property. And they also have the right to set design standards. Within reason. Not doing it now. Number one. When it comes set up a special overlay district. And then doesn't accompanying build-out an hour. Which is where you actually figure out how much i was going to go there. Marsh. The state will provide. Help with. State is part of their normal allocation to individual states. What's the first planet. A waiver. Smart overlay district. So that you could. 125 zone enough housing to create 120. Developer. They really don't want towing in. And this is important. But the real kicker and the one that's really important. This legislation. Assume 100% of the cost. Toothpaste through grade 12. For any kyle. Who goes to business. School. Currently on average picks up about 42%. Rangers. Percent in lawrence. State is essentially paying the full free. To not only develop to do it and do it. According to smart growth principal. One of the other requirements of this is that in every one of these. 20% of the housing must be set aside to be. Affordable. Definition. And so we also added a significant. State support for housing subsidies for affordable. We believe that if we can get the legislature to pass this and the romney administration to. I bet this will provide enough incentive to create a net increase of about 30,000 new housing units. Over the next. Which would mean my r. Projection. Housing demand that we will need and maintain vacancy rates at level that would. Bring not bring prices down. So that they will not rise any faster than family income. Housing will become. Now finally i would answer all of it what the cost of it is this terribly expensive program. Number. Dentist school cost. That are needed for planning at the town level we have funds in there. 101. Ways of funding this. Number one. Roughly 30,000 units. Will add about 180 $5000000 to the state. Budget. During up to the state revenue during the construction of these. Aftermarket texting all that plus. Because you're buying all the materials. Reject that april. And it will add more revenue. Seroquel. But the way to fund it. Is it the state has more than 10,000 acres. Ups surplus land. And it has lay fallow for something. We are suggesting an expedited process that we've recommended. For the state land disposition agency can. Elizabeth land. With income. We believe this whole package of about 375 million dollars over 10 years. That's about 37 million dollars per year. And none of that would be needed in the first two years when the economy is still in. Update. And if you think about that. In. This entire program for housing. We should produce at least 30,000. 100 of 1%. Upstate project in 2013. Talk like a 1%. Appropriate. To get towns and cities to begin to think differently. About providing. Are people who are. Firefighter. We just got. And we are surveying. Back to surveys are out in the field now. County employees. And all metco parents parents of kids who are in a program. And we've already received about 200. Survey back. And we've gotten back the other. 500. We are finding that something like 50%. Employee. Respond. Are showing in kent. Housing in the area 97. That was affordable. With a work. I think if we put together the idea of a. Effort. Housing authority who work for us in each one of our community. We can begin to solve the housing crisis we can begin to develop. how are they affordable housing. And then finally won last night. We would still have a lot of people. Cannot afford to live here. And therefore we also added into this proposal. Of the state's spending. Affordable housing. So that developers could put up housing. I have some subsidies in order to be able to. How's those coronavirus. Together. Bacon massachusetts interfaith housing. Will finally be able to meet. Time for some questions with professor blue. Directions to knockout. Warehousing already perhaps to reallocated instructions and having to build. Samantha. Talk about the supply side of the mall. What are the reason has warehousing is expensive. What about. Jobs outside of boston housing. Where i am. Why do necessarily have to do. Warehousing. Way out in the northwest around north adam take advantage of it. Bill. And we expect. Housing on robot aaron donald. We expect. From other survey. Who are now empty nesters. Two or three kids. Countdown. Around town centres where you can easily get two things. The people are going to see this is very attractive healthy beautiful. It already. We can have families who need the space for kids and so forth. So why will be producing. Something like 40%. Create. The redevelopment of abandoned housing. Developer certainly under this bill to take care of it. But. The towns and cities. 2. District around area housing. To convert that housing housing and. Single-family housing. Overlay district. Could you comment on how you see the legislative leadership reacting to the proposed legislation. Can a president traveling and hug speaker finneran how do you think. They're going to react and what could we do at a local level to help out. They are wildly both of them eating. And more acceptable. They felt would make it easier to get some of their colleagues about. More housing. It supports it and quite frankly. We have been president traveling. And they are strong support of it and i think that the senate president is something we have not yet on it. But that is what kevin and harry have been doing and they have meeting scheduled with him. To go over there and see if we can't get this to the top of your agenda. We don't have to worry about the executive side. The last was just this thursday with the office of commonwealth development and the department of housing in tunisia. We have strong support from them they very much like the idea of the overlay district. Concerned about this whole thing. But i'll tell you what i think's going to happen. You have the governor here who is strongly in favor of it at this meeting at babson college he said. Responsibility. Other hand. Another 2005 bucket. I think the big battle. Overcome the resistance. More on the financing. I think we're going to get this to the house and the senate in some form. Just say yes. We're going to put this money in most of this money is out 2005-2006 when we hope the economy will be recovering and revenues will be in hand. Contacting your legislators. Will be very important to get them to vote for this. And most importantly. Lining up with her. At the press conference at 9 at the boston foundation jointly. Sponsored by the greater boston chamber of commerce in the boston foundation. We have president the ceo of citizens bank on hollister with the president of the greater boston chamber of commerce. We have the head of partners health we have the ahead of who is coming to say. We can't find. University. Testifying. And then later in the afternoon to testify before the joint hearing. The time to really. Target all our resources into the extent that you can contact your own legislators. Contact. Oh that's going to be helpful we're going to also be fanning out. We can and susie asaclean georgia. Arguments in the surplus land. Financing. Chips and dip. We depending a lot less even in nominal dollar turns let alone. In a real pickle. We need to get back to those levels or today. But we're using bond financing we're only suggesting cuz the state has now a planned us to sell a lot of this land was boston state hospital and so forth. Portion of the program. Atlantis. Appropriate. Eu4 housing where it's working. I'm interested in the at the local level. Let's assume. The legislation. Adopter of an overlay district. Not in town. Developer then purchase is a lot let's say an acre and a half of land. 12 units 3 of witcher going to be affordable. What would be the involvement of the state. And the department of housing and community development. That developer getting his building permit right. What would happen is that the first right. Gulliver's theoretically have the right now to do that. Presumably the community. There should be a much smoother process going forward. Developer being able to get all the building permit therefore needs insurance. Where there is a problem that is in the few. Where the communities playing game this sister. Robin. Estate. Department of housing development is going to have an enforcement mechanism. Now that we've been talking with them so that in fact they'll be able to come in. Restate the developer will be able to appeal to. For assistance. Getting housing bill. The town itself is set up as part of the stilwell now. Probably given the special overlay district. Part of the problem. Stop at any developers if you're working yourself. Tens of thousands of dollars in legal costs. Because i saw cops get rolled over into price. Premises morning has been to hear of an exciting proposal on one of the most important economic and moral issues facing our community.

uuneedham_org

20130120_david_atlanta_1968.mp3

1968 i attended a funeral down in atlanta georgia. At that time i was there. Youth director of an a new hampshire congregational church in my minister ken sanford was very big in the community activist stuff and i have been in california. Ocean 22. The palace bridge thing down there. Selma alabama. I didn't go but i was i could have gone to that. And he was so prominent in the. Really occupant something that he was asked to put together a. New hampshire delegation quick cuz the funeral was going to happen five days after the assassination of dr. king. So we had essentially a non we had a black minister and the four other ministers he been in that and 19 minister. You don't want non-professional here. And the sanders engineering company gave herself an airplane and. So it's down to atlanta georgia so we were new hampshire with our winter suits on. To go for a what we knew would be a short march and then the burial of doctor kim. We arrived the airport the temperature was 885 degrees for steak number one we're wearing heavy suits down there. Ministers. Torah reading all the place and they said where you guys from new hampshire. Anderson why are you here. You know there were 250 blacks in the 900,000 population of new hampshire that time. If you live and work in new hampshire 19. 68. Twice a year. They were. The ebenezer baptist church witches. And we landed the back of the church just at the end of the ceremony there were four us presidents sitting inside there or one who is to become a president. The actual president johnson was not there. Because he was concerned about potential issue. But he didn't show up but eisenhower and truman. Ant farm. And on the back of it is an african walnuts. Coffin. And they're beginning to line up and they said these new hampshire guys and they put us in the front. We have no business being in the front row. And marching down. West peachtree street i guess. Ind. What i called you a half-mile walk was actually three and a half months. And people wide and about 45 blocks deep. How they were talking about 100,000. We were the color of the people of the guy who kills. Their leader. And. 20s 30s black. People probably 75% male 25% pima. Assault at the airport. The wharf. Sore behind us and i'm behind. And. Every road seem to be singing different song song that you sang here. I heard songs i never heard before and i never heard again and it seemed like there were 100 songs going on. Behind us you know. So we get up to the. Courthouse. Who defined this whole thing he fly the confederate flag at full staff that day on the courthouse yard. They forced him to fly the flag at half staff. Great river lodge. 6070 state troopers in riot gear on the front steps of the courthouse. And in front of them is a 50 caliber machine gun. And. The word was if these. Angry black people start washing up the steps the courthouse shooting.. Don't even hesitate to shoot. I'm coming around the corner on the frontline facing a machine gun. Having been 2 years ago in vietnam. Fortunately. All of these young. Black people held their breath and didn't. Break out of line if they have big trouble. Oh and it went on for another couple miles to the barrel and swan i won't go into that but. It was just an amazing. A being there seeing that. Coming in in the morning leaving at night. And it just kind of absorbed that i'm still thinking about what what was all of this going on. But it was it was just a marvelous experience. For me and all the people there now the manchester union leader which is like our boston globe down here in new hampshire. And they put it on page 55 of the next day's newspaper. Do they have a picture about this big and it says so. New hampshire delegation to martin luther king's funeral no comment pretty-much. But that was the. The impact of the. Of the day the chance with megan.

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041205_Lyceum10_Landau%20.mp3

Welcome to the. Public affairs. Virtuality culture the arts. The homes of the three great abrahamic religions traditions. Is without question. One of the most troubled places in our world. And a constant source of concern. To those who care about issues of justice and peace. Special relationship with the state of israel. And its recent invasion of iraq have moved the tissue to the very top. Call american consciousness about foreign affairs. Today we have is our galaxy. Someone who has. To the building up of spiritual. Impractical resources for the healing of the holy land in relations between jews muslims and christians. A graduate of harvard divinity school. Where when i served as the president of the alumni council. I had. The privilege of presenting him with the school's highest honor. Martin katzenstein award. Which among other things honors people for their remarkable. Reliable sense of humor. Spiritual resource what is terribly important. In working on these issues. Is on the faculty of the hartford seminary in hartford. And he is here in the boston area this weekend as part of a dialogue between. Muslims christians and jews. But taking place at the kennedy school of government at harvard. I can't tell you how pleased i am that you have coal is here to inaugurate what i believe will be a continuing series of discussion. Of these complex issues. Call that we will undertake here at the needham lyceum in the weeks and months ahead without any further do i give you my good friend professor you has philando. Johnson warm invitation and. The opportunity to be in the morning. Salaam alaikum. Shalom aleichem salaam alaikum is the same greeting may peace be upon you. Send. Heparin. Grainger. John mentioned i'm participating in. Gathering. Middle easterners and north american the beginning york city. Sunday. And it now been extended to doubledays. Academy. Always for me fascinating to see the interface of. Coaster expedition and try to bridge the gap. Idioms modes of discourse. Ultimately. Even though hebrew and arabic are almost the same language variations of one semitic. Rude language. Billionaire. Children of abraham through different mothers. Definitely grown apart. Even as neighbors in the middle east for many centuries. And the political class of interest. And ideology. Has undermined i would even pay. Spirituality. Which are at the core of our identity. I would say it's covenanted peoples in relationship with the one creator god. You're remembering after 17 ishmael was circumcised together with. Abraham do we all have that. Covenant albino even in our flat. Text to united. Interpretation what that might mean. Today and how women quickly are needed desperately as healer has reconciled because the. With their motto military mythology. Heroism. Civilian life on the battlefield. This morning had more scandalous photos of some navy seals. Entreating yuraki. Prisoners somehow. I don't know. Why people think. Permissible. I started the reserve soldiers in the civil defense branch of the israeli military over 13 years. I know that. War in the mentality of war brings out the worst in people not the best most noble in people. Motivation time. Speaker. Redeem. From the trap. Vacations for. Erratic behavior. Which we do. Believing. Be safe and enjoy the safety of our children. We don't have a clue how we get out of the tickets brickell. Perpetuated. Horrors. Israel. I'm a dual citizen of the united states in israel israel. 1978. I've been a religion. Religious educator as well as a. African activist. There are two complete. Both of them now. In trouble. And confusion. Israel in the name of security and it does have real enemies. Adult protection mode israel had become. What i call the preemptive strike mentality. Contagion. People in high places in the country of carthage. Mythology which distorts the golden rule the ethical common denominator for all religious traditions on this planet the golden rule into do unto others before they get a chance to do it work onto you. What does basically intensify demographic. Or week. Sporting an immediate threat but the result is long-term use generate a lot more hostility hatred. Desire for revenge. If you email your people. And you terrorize people. And. The result is. My sixteen-year-old son in jerusalem right now. Has only known. A suspicion. I had to. Offering example. Like to work. Careful. I have the money on one of our walk and talk on the back with the dog. Saturday afternoon. In about an hour. Mirror house for women. Map to of them i knew i went to their funerals back-to-back the next day. One live right downstairs with the daughter. Better. This is real life. We live in breathe. Dream like man that's reality. Children are wetting their bed. Valium prescribed by veterinarians. Rampant. Pathology. Body politic. Palestine in israel. Except when he comes here for the summer. Walking tall. Are you afraid. Going up an innocent passenger things on ticket or pizza parlor. No not really. Garbage band. Resigned. Start falling. Which is why i brought him to the united states. When. United states was about to invade iraq. Israeli defense minister. Yes i think it's the download downhill probably fire chemical nipples. I was in my reserve unit during the first gulf war in 1991. And i saw that i felt that. At the carnival. Harbinger something horrific at the come. And lo and behold. 12 years later. Amazing. Another boy. Coronavirus. Taking early retirement. Already in 1982. What does praying in the eyes. Maybe darpa. By the natural death. Survival. Life for his career. Really. If he means to dismantle settlement. What's 8 mean. In 2003. At the top. Coronavirus. United states and iraq were about to. Go to work but it seemed to me. I have my son with me in hartford. About 10 or 11 weeks and then flown back after. Now call the combat phase. Diprima can accomplish played. Ongoing war. Israel. Background. Really. Pimentos. And that is the mortal threat to israel truly. The arsenal nd. Hamster bedding. Nextdoor. And the reason. Or iran as a persian non-arab muslim. Palestinian. Militarily capable of threatening israel after the 48 war. But they are actually capable of. Terrorizing israelis and making them deathly afraid in the fin personal term. This is something to do. Very hard to comprehend. .. The whole syrian air force and syrian long-range missile. Also a chemical warhead potentially. Cuz we have. Army and airforce and our missiles as a deterrent quote-unquote deterrent. Really afraid of the whole experience. Military. Personal security. Ineffective stranger gets potential enemy. Maybe having a gun or underneath. His or her clothes and then her clothes these days women too. This is now. Rally's. To wonder. More than anytime since 1948. Where are we what is our future can we guarantee to our children. And remain. Existential conflict. Armament clapton. Conventional. Conflict between israelis and palestinians. Something else. This is one of my deepest blue man. American. Government. What's going on. I want to take tar for the whole planet. Something with dawn on the people washington. The longest distance. Holy land. Map. Factoring. Contaminates internet relationship. As well as improve relations between the united states and the muslim world at large. At one point to a 1.3 billion. The number for christian. People talk about a class of civilization than the president united states. Not a good choice of vocabulary george. W. Don't say that again. Projecting. Series that are rampant in the muslim world. Confrontation. Century theatres. Is a potential nightmare for everyone. Moving around. United states. More weapons of mass destruction. Maybe all the other countries combined. Worry more. Image problem which is the coursework worsens when you have these pictures of military of you. Present. The hotel. Call the preemptive strike mentality. Realizing. The best defense is a good. Sense of compassion and justice. Rather than military dad died. The chorale. Heroic respond to perceived. Edmonton thrift. American. History mythology hollywood weapons and all of that. Having fits in a text in for a conference a few days at relax that's a whole other country. Altogether what's an independent republic for little while. Before it became one of thee. United. President. Like president did not from texas. Cowboy. Anime. Kind of. Mock military. Fidelity. Set the gun lobby. Did the truth everybody carry. Impact. The national psyche. And the price domestic violence. Boyfriend and girlfriend in argument with military weapon more often than could be the case. This is part of the. Pathological. Island. Border. Continue. Given part of life in your own house. My approach. This is overwhelming. And i wonder. Did they have to get really really really really really bad for people wake up. How many children have to bury. How many grades have to be opened up. Mother. How many lies has to be waited before. A different kind of the bible. Microchips in. Different kind of pre-emptive strike one of justice and compassion. Which is. What islands and to be. The legacy from our. Common forbear. Abraham abramovich. Abraham genesis 18. Where god is letting. Abrahamian on the faith of sodom and gomorrah. I'll let him know what i'm about to do because he practices the way of god in his household with him with his breakfast thing that's worse than that. Emergency. Capital of compassion. And abraham model them. Human form. We don't have even talked to christy as part of our lexicon is dude. I resonate with. Abraham for me. Spiritual today practical role model. For me. Beta particle. Have to live up to these. Imperative sentences ideals a practical imperative. Practicing justice. What did what conflict generally. Create. One of the reasons. Don't have peace because we don't have an inclusive sense of justice is entitled exactly the same. Secular terms that self-determination state capital. That would be the best. Septic i think we could. Arrived at through negotiate. How come i can't get there. Because of the fear response. We are the right this minute than victims at the hands of the evil oppressors terrorist. Warrior. And israel when parker blow up. There is a holocron president immediately. People blown up to praveen jewish. We are accidentally. Endangered endangered species. Palestinian. Colonial bader concord. Remember to later and european colonial british. Americans in the same way colonizers with guns. Conflict. Confirm the worst stereotypes about the other we see the palestinian terrorism generally as the new version of the nazis and they see us as the newest versions of. Colonialism. Vader here i'm fighting my best friend. The writer and political analyst guilty klein halevi. We break through this. We have to arrive at a framework of. Necessary but insufficient and realizing that this is the main message of all the biblical prophet. The reason they didn't get too far. Run out of town because. They worked. Powerful. Against the condition mentalities of their time which is no different really than the ones of our time. Letgo. Just at the right to 10 slow down like a mighty stream that's a beautiful. What does it really reach the heart. The terrain. Transformation. No-win war. Formula. Frightened and angry heart. Not conditioned mine. And our minds have anemia. Defense mechanisms. And that that. Heart blockage. Unemotional. Remedy. In order to. Require. Different kind of human community. Different way of relating. One another. One mic remodel that i've been involved in for 14 years is called open house. And i would do the narrows between jerusalem and tel aviv. Weather in allentown for the extension until 1948. Wendy most of the inhabitants were. Fortunately evacuated by the israeli military in the course of the defensive war in april took over the town. Evacuated the population to the white fang. Today that remained a little over 900 but others who moved in from other parts of the do afterwards make up 20% of the population. Make up the other 80%. Exactly the demographic ratio in israel as the home of 80% to 20%.. Open house. Navigate to laboratory. Situated primarily any house that is in the home. The war 1948. Later in 1948. Because my former wife. If one of the members of that family grew up there. Together with the family. Had to leave in 1948 established in that. Coming home. Series wanted. First one ever in the history of ramen. Amazon toddler. And. Dahlia and i wanted it also to be a meeting place. Play some encounter between the two communities in the city even though they another. Partly because. Americans understand. 50 years after brown versus the board of education. Well. Court cases intp even heard by the israeli supreme court. Mel brooks. Parallel tracks throughout history. We have to work. In order to. Oriental golf. Never going to make it to the interview so. Is the compact part of what we do. Expected affirmative action programs like this nursery school. To redress the discrimination felt by the arabs or palestinian national minority. Including ramen. Credibility in the eyes of the art community. And xanax together. The terror. Acquiring. Program. Advertising sales and dealing with politics or religion. Experiences and benefits summer camp parenting workshops computer classes. International. Bergen to the united states and europe. Young people pressure cooker. A country like this one in relative peace relative. Harmony among the different religions an ethnic group. Which allows them to breathe. Find a human common denominator. And even a middle eastern common denominator during the same music food. Stories. When they come to your pramerica they realize.. We are middle eastern. Marinette. Working with children. Overtime. Anna trickle-up. Dynamic. Evolution rather than a revolutionary. Prediction from the top. That's why i think all the middle-east plans have been negotiated haven't worked because the people haven't been prepared at the grassroots level to live it out. One of the factor. And my remarks we can have a conversation. The different plan but does the upload raymond 1993. What is zebracorn negotiated by availing another israelis album borg another. I know personally and jakob robert bravo and others on the palestinian side. Giving his. Crematory. Did the birth defect. Talk. Cano residence. Any kind of. Understanding polina plans will not work in a holy land. And they. I'm there. Feel threatened by them and they will do whatever they can. 2 p.m.. Circular strike. One of the names of god. Secular trend. Economia with three bullets. What's not that. Trying to kill me. The prime minister to thwart. Kind of. I received from being imposed on the jewish people. In the land of israel. We need to find bertha. Is there an indian cricket christianity and islam in order to find the highest common denominator in that holy land and by extension anywhere. Help people transcend. Their respective victims and the cycle of mutual humanization. Blame. What i keep trying to do. Israel-palestine. And in this country. Thank you it's always. Wonderful to hear. Your commitment to this process. Maya rolling this. Always to offer the first question before tom starts moving around and. Asking people to continue the dialogue with you but i guess that i need to focus on the particular political moment that we seem to be in. Israel. The government in power is now a minority government with only a third of the seats in the knesset. There are overtures to building a government of national unity. I read in the paper this morning that the leaders of the palestinian authority album 1003s. We're on their way to damascus to try to guess. Come on in islamic jihad to put in writing. Their commitment to a longer-term proof that they put it. One wonders whether there will be any action on the part of the american government that i want to ask you is if you see. By the grounds for political hope. On what you suggest american citizen should be doing in relation to their own government. In order to promote peace building in the middle east. Thank you for that. Question. I think all electric alan to take them from fidelity to make a difference. Forget effect of. Individual. Really typical ultimately not immediately. Toward some kind of reconciliation there i do believe america is the key now that new york and washington. Places of leverage rather than jerusalem and ramallah. Renovations are now. Work with colleagues in new york washington. Part of the seminar. Seminar. Actor john danforth. The former senator. Cayman address.. Cricket wireless later announced he was resigning. Colin powell. Mount pisgah park i thought well maybe. Map of the danforth could help straighten. I'll find a salon depending tour-de-force diplomacy. Maybe he still can't even from outside and maybe part of his calculations. I'm outside i don't know but. Help our elected leader. Journalists and other media professionals. Grass. Costco in moncton. Dimension. Policymakers. Dimension. That has to happen. Whether we form. My work is it capitalized. Network. To education. Connect. Stories of transformation in the middle. You can by the way go on to the website friends of open house. org orgy. And read the story and see what is happening there and even connect to media. Broadcast npr bnn. Messages are absolutely crucial. What can i do. Open house is the product of two or three or four people. Millions of people. The world. Communicate to congress people. Letters to people you know. Do the boston globe or any other newspaper. Depart of. What the prophets were doing but not succeeding. If you could take up to the power on the politician again they can. Negative or positive alternative. What can we do stories working over there maybe there are some macro. The 303. Dahlia. As the inspiration. For her. Dedication of her childhood home. Acknowledgement. Apologies. I'm in. Acknowledgement of the honda apologizing expressing remorse for the harm that would cause even in a war self-defense or survival. Everywhere. And we lost because an american i'll take my israeli hat on. America. Has done no harm all around the planet. Economically and politically. Fighting people. Call american pasta. Our own mistake shortcomings blind-spot. Requirements. Truth-telling. Then you have to figure out what's the best medium to communicate that kind of truth. Postal recently right by arthur wasko. United states and sister joan chittister. Head of the benedictine community in america. Wide variety of american christian protestant leaders. Undertook a full-page ad in the new york time. Under the heading of the tents of abraham a call for peacemaking. I'm proud to be one of us initiator some signatories of that ever hit since it's my small way. I'm trying to bring in. On what i think is. Particular. Critical time. For america's religious leaders religious people. To be heard. Really good time outside. Great auk. And perhaps. I think it's important that we now turn to some dialogue with those who gathered here with us this morning. I'm going to. Play devil's advocate a little bit here. You stated. Problem. Israel and in the united states to. Very clearly. But i'm not so sure i'm hearing much from you that's useful in the way of anything we can do about it. I'm unitarian. Every year we get together in the way. And we make. Declaration. On important. World issues. And. We are good breastfeeding liberal. When was somebody else who committed the crime in our name. We're more than willing to apologize. With what. Resources we have we even go out and try to actively make things better. Ripple. And the problems we seek to address. Continue to get worse. Because the people who holds the real power in the society. Continue to make some work. Now you've mentioned there's a culture of fear. That culture of fear is recruiting converse everyday through active propaganda. And. You suggest that we offer. Positive examples in return. Maybe millions of people have heard of your. Their house. But. It's certainly not. Common knowledge. Street corners in america. It seems to me. That. You're standing up and speaking in a normal voice in the face. Call roaring crowd. A people. Many of them because they are themselves sincerely afraid and believe that their message must get out. Can you offer us anything. It's going to be more effective. Then. Alternative. We've been trying for decades and that have failed miserably. But i mentioned building coalition for alliances here. My intent was to suggest. I working together. Right here. With jews christians muslims. Tell american to create a safe space for. Which is. Gangrenous. Oregon. Burning blood poisoning around the world. Required americans with the. Vision and courage. To set an example with ventricle up-to-date leadership a national leadership. Citizen. Uncompassionate. Waze app. Depriving some remedy now that could mean. Endorsed the idea adopting. Supporting. Open now. Making that link. Land to come here in their witness here their stories. Explain how it worked over there visiting them. To support them to create a. Cross-cultural international exchange. The middle east did not intrude upon. Opposite of american when. Jet planes crash into the world trade center and the pentagon. You said already have happened. The other way in which one takes a problem. In a constructive way not defending oneself. From the fearful threat. Requirement of lateral thinking. And require some creative. Intuition imagination. With them. I didn't hear friends in the last presidential campaign. Not the elliott. Are often potential swing voters. You got one in. Sapulpa. Well really. So you vote for this. Elector of the two unpleasant alternatives. People iron. Marketplace. Courageously speak-out. Weed eater. Indicator. Steelers record. Everything. Settlement. In the westbank is a major part of the problem. I also. Spell. Call privately. By the settlers from cell. Seems to me if you're going to try to. Map of a settlement. You may have to compensate the settlers for that. Good idea for united states. Provide money to israel to do that. First of all. Houses are owned privately by the people who. Settlement into. Is a thorn in the side of the palestinians and as a. optical jenny kind of just resolution. However. Formula. Already there. With this to try to do a land swap. About 4% of the occupied. Territory beyond what was the armistice line in 1949 where 75% of the settlers live. For real and they would be. Enclave it surrounded by. And about 25% of the settlers would have to be compensated. As happened with the settlements in northern sinai. The godson. Settlement already. In the pipeline for. Compensate. Oh yeah. But it's not primarily an economic issue the money can be found. I think. America in europe and japan. Rocket has any disposable income betrayed a kind of marshall plan for the whole reason it would include helping the settlers. Relocated greater economic challenges building up the infrastructure of a palestinian. Emigrating. Worrying numbers. If their economy is enhanced until i have a reason to go back and help build it. Millions for defense. Position america. Maybe. Billion for. Defense and not 1% for understanding. I think that's kind of a position we're in now and. Firstly all-weather i know about the other i learned from leandre. Alright i read all the books they were wonderful they were glorious. I know darn little. About palestine. Other than we have a civilian fellow who held the reins of leadership for 40 years and was mailed i. Oh and i'm wondering. Maybe that's why the equation. Play walk r8. Amelia perkins fighting project. Educated. American citizens with me i what is the muslim faith we have a pretty good understanding jewish faith in the. Christian facebook. If we don't understand those other pieces equation you know them. Edupoint out. Little piece of real estate is like veryable in 1914 prior to world war. Cotton poison into a. An unnecessary war that killed. Appreciate. And let them know. When the windows had come or illuminated. Experience of dispossession and exile. Abby manipulated forcible by their own leaders claim it.. By the way. The revolution. They've been. Exploited buying our machine. Weapons against israel four-decade. Connecticut. Service. Preventing there. Legitimate right grievances expiration. Waited one week. A palestinian state is really tested. Story that needs to be shared. Alongside the zionist contentious narrative of leon arrest and extradition other people. Predict inherited. The need to be understood. Most palestinians 97% of them are muslim sunni muslim 3% only or christian. Different. Museum. Both of those are very important and part of the education responsibility that americans have is to lift up. Foreign policy. But a. Culturally and spiritually impoverished. Relationship with one fellow american. And this is really the pregnant part the aerosmith civil liberties and people keeping in touch sea without basic human to leave about legal rights just because they happen to have an arabic name. America 2004. Department. And the new deal with it. America. And understand it. Responsibility. Counter their own instruments. Lettuce lounge. And it's abrahamic triangle being. Working partner. Laid out something of an agenda for the dm lyceum in the dialogues that we will continue from. Beyond this really rather remarkable morning. For up to understand more deeply. For us to understand the experience of palestinian people themselves. For us to reflect on human rights and civil liberties in relation to both our own countries behavior. And. Issues within the middle east. Invited people such as rufus on a leading muslim human rights attorney works all around the world. Naomi hassan you recommended to me a former assistant speaker of the knesset in the l in. Peacemaking efforts at the political level. We'll have a good many people. Who i hope will help us to continue this dialogue. But for your simulations of our own commitment to dialogue i think it's time that we give you our hearty thanks. And wish you. Hello. Strength and courage. Your person. Dialog.

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20110807_finding_happiness_amy_freedman_sermon.mp3

Have you ever been in a philadelphia. I'm not talking about the city of brotherly love. I'm talking about what the playwright david ives describes as the kind of day. When nothing goes right. Many people have seen the movie philadelphia. Less familiar is the play of the same title completely different plot. I once appeared in a this short drama as a gum cracking no-nonsense waitress. Anyone who's been to a new york diner knows the type. One of those women who can rattle off the specials without even looking at the blackboard and refills your coffee cup before you even notice it's empty. The other two characters in the play are al and mark. To old friends. Who are regulars at the restaurant. Al arrives first and orders the special. And when mark slides into the booth it becomes obvious. But he's having one of those days. Mark shares with his friends that nothing has been going right for him all day. Perhaps you had such an experience i know i have. However mark goes on to say that something weird has been happening to him. He could not find any aspirin at the drugstore. A corner newsstand did not. Carry the new york times. And when he tried to go home the cab driver actually took him in the opposite direction. Al tries to calm him down explaining. Jordan of philadelphia. Yes. Physically you're in new york. But metaphysically. You are in. Philadelphia. You see inside of what we know as reality are these black holes known as philadelphia's and if you fall into them you run up against the kind of stuff that's been happening to you all day. Because in the philadelphia no matter what you ask for he can't get it. Yeah or something they're not going to have it. You want to do something it ain't going to get done. You want to go somewhere. Can't get there from here. This is the condition that is named for the town. That invented cheesesteak. Something that nobody in his right mind. Would willingly ask for. Now my sincere apologies to anyone who is from philadelphia or happens to love cheesesteak. I'm recounting the play because it captures a state of mind. That we've all experienced. When everything seems to go wrong and that's what this playwright terms of philadelphia. Sherna. When mark tries to order. The most common items are unavailable. On the other hand is enjoying the special. His cream of kidney soup. And then he received a phone call from his boss telling him he's fired. And instead of being angry or sad. Or devastated. Al shrugs off the news of losing his job and smiles. When mark asked his friend how we can remain so sunny after being fired. Alex sprint explains that he woke up. Anna los angeles. In a los angeles state of mind. The sun shines brightly. Life is beautiful. Nothing can get you down. Perhaps you two have had. Sunny days like this when nothing bothered you. Or perhaps you know someone like al. One of those people who has a positive outlook. No matter what in the midst of chaos they are calm and sunny disposition. By the end of the play the two friends swap. Moods. Without feeling blue. And mark deciding that life is not so bad after all. I offer you this vignette because it offers with humor. The way our own outlook can influence our daily experience. Positively or negatively. Happiness is a very subjective emotion. Two people can react very differently to the very same set of circumstances. Sometimes the situation that once made me happy no longer does so. Are there black holes in our sense of reality that we can just. Fall into as a playwright suggest. Or are there ways to actually transform our outlook. Can we improve our pursuit of happiness. More and more scientists are revealing what mystics have known for centuries. There is a profound connection between the mines. And the body. Happiness. Is good for your health. People who are happy have lower blood pressure more energy and tend to live longer. The field of psychology historically has focused on pathology and mental illness. And seeking how to treat. Mental. Mood and personality disorders psychology as primarily concentrated on the negative side of the human psyche. However. There's a recent chef. Recognizing that perhaps. Mental health. Is more than the absence of mental illness. This area of study is known as positive psychology. Positive psychology suggest. But just as certain conditions are disabling. There may actually be factors that are enabling. That leads to a greater sense of happiness and fulfillment. What makes us happy. Martin seligman writes that there are three components to authentic happiness. Pleasure. Engagement. And meaning. Although pleasures often given the most attention. It is the least consequential of the three. Pleasure brings temporary the lights. However people often devote their whole lives in the pursuit of pleasure. Everyone knows that you can't buy happiness. What is less widely appreciated is that once people have their basic needs met. There's no significant relationship. Between income level and happiness. In fact many people who devote their lives to making more and spending more money. Feel profoundly discontent. Name some teachings of buddhism warned about the transience of pleasure and how craving leads to suffering. Are yearning for happiness through food. Sex alcohol in possession. Can lead to addictive behavior or a treadmill of wanting that cannot be satisfied. However we can increase our pleasure by taking more time to fully savor sensory experience. For example. I love. Salty snacks. My mother. And one time at a family party i was eating handful after handful of one of those mixed nuts. And a family friend fred willie is my mother is going. Fred willie came over to me and said amy i too love. Nuts but. Take the time. To savor it and he actually took. And i remember this i must have been much younger but it's a very very. The number i can see how he did this. Picked up a single peanut wasn't even a cashew or a bigger hazelnut or anything. One peanut. Demonstrated this to me by eating it like an apple taking one little bites. Allowing the flavors to be in his mouth he said i wait until that has. I've swallowed that appreciate that one bite before i go on to next. Made quite an impression on me. Course i have not taken to eating my peanuts this way. However when i am eating too quickly. I do remind myself to slow down. And really savor my food. And likewise when i'm rushing to certain place and not even aware of my surroundings i try to remind myself. And to be mindful of each step on the way. The act of living fully in the moment increases my appreciation for being alive. The second component of authentic happiness is engagement or depth involvement. Misfits instagram play i just gave of mindfulness. It's not simply eating the snack. They brought me happiness but my engagement with the sensory pleasure. The same is true with our work. And relationships. More attention we can bring to our actions and other people around us. Will contribute to a greater sense of fulfillment. This ties into the third component of authentic happiness meaning. Happy people feel that their personal strengths. Are being used towards some larger end. So how can we find ways to make our lives. More meaningful. How can we. Feel more engaged with the world around us. Can we make ourselves happy. Above all we must remember that happiness is not a static goal to be reached. Although the pursuit of happiness is a worthy goal. We must not imagine that we will someday wake up. Forever in a los angeles. Where nothing can get us down. And likewise even if you're feeling stuck in a philadelphia. For nothing is going right. Remember. No feeling is final. In fact i have some specific actions to help. Boost your spirits no matter what your state of mine. These are simple acts that have been studied by psychologists and proven to increase their subjects sense of well-being. I encourage you to try them in the week ahead. Compare notes with your family and your friends. Or fellow church members. About what you found. That's the first action. To spend more time with your family and friends and fellow church members or community wherever you happen to find it. That is proven by psychologists to increase your sense of well-being. More than any factor that's most significant predictor of happiness. Was a person support network. People with strong ties to others and a commitment to spend time with them show a greater satisfaction with life. Perhaps you already have people that you turn to regularly for support recreation and shared experiences. Perhaps your significant other family friends or church community is something you only squeeze in when you have the time. Actually it's something that you need to take more time for when you're stuck in a bad place. So i encourage you. To make some plans. Whether it's a family meal a game night talking over coffee. A walk on the beach regular date or phone call. Join a small group attend a fellowship events. These activities are not frivolous they're proven. To contribute to greater sense. Another action that was found to make people happier. And improve physical health was keeping a gratitude journal. Subjects in the study were asked to write in a diary each night. A list of at least 10 things. That they were thankful for. Especially if you had a bad day or dealing with some significant challenges taking the time to count your blessings actually helps increase your satisfaction with life. More than that this practice of focusing on the positive before going to sleep over the course of six weeks. Widen the span of gratitude. Folks who often struggle to think of 10 items soon open their weariness. To the positive things in their lives and experience a greater sense of pleasure. Engagements and meaning. The final action that has been shown to increase happiness. Is performing acts of kindness. Giving puts meaning into your life. We take time and effort to do something for another person. Even if it's as simple as. Bringing food or giving a ride running an errand. Visiting. Or engaging in acts of service. We feel a greater sense of purpose. Our lives have touched others in significant ways. We feel more connected to other people and engaged in the world around us. A girl caddy to. Do five acts of kindness. In the week ahead. Course you may already have that on your to-do list but. You could check it office. Sense of accomplishment. This is a gift that we offer to others and also a gift. That we offer to ourselves. The week ahead i hope that you will try one of these happiness practices. Making a commitment to spend time with family members friends or community keeping a gratitude journal to count your blessings. Performing acts of kindness. Robert holden of happiness now offers the following poem. Reminding us that our individual well-being. Is a gift that ripples outward. Just because the world is so full of suffering. That your happiness is a gift. Is because the world is so full of poverty. That your wealth is a gift. It is because the world is so unfriendly. That's your smile is a gift. It is because the world is so full of war. That's your piece. Is a gift. It is because the world is in such despair. But your hope and optimism is a gift. It is because the world is so afraid. That your love. Is it gif. Happiness. Is it gets a gift to ourselves a gift to our loved ones. A gift to the world around us. But it's continue to find ways to engage fully and the gift of life that surrounding sustain us. I believe in happiness. And i believe.

uuneedham_org

20130407_king_of_birds_mark.mp3

So another time another place. People that had made their way into the kind of cities we have today. The animal kind of rule things. And it's time for a face with a of time. The giant eagle decided he wanted to call together all the birds that we had a really interesting idea he wanted to share with them. And so. He called in all the birds from all around the world and flew in. Some of them had to walk or swim because. You know they were birthday can fly. And they all came together. Chirping and chattering and squawking and squeaking and all the kinds of noises a huge cacophony. Big mess of noise. And the giant eagle raised up his left-wing that was the universal bird signal for a quiet please. Israel listen to what he had to say and he said. You know the animals the beast. Roam the land they have a king. The lion everybody knows the lion is the king of the beasts. I think we creatures of the air. Should have our own king. It just so happens that i think i'd probably make a pretty good king. Right i'm wrong. I think i should be king. In accordance with the more chirping and chattering and all kinds of noises people as the birds to the process information. And then another bird step forward. When was the great horned owl. Freestyling the gathering and he said. No disrespect but i think i should be really wise people come to me for advice all the time i'd make an excellent king. Icd-10. And again the bird started processing that information. Until another break step forward. And it was the great buzzard. Not the most attractive ride on the block but certainly had something to say they said i should be the bird king. Afterall i hope i sure your birds and other creatures into the underworld. I clean up the planet. You know i make things nice and clean i would be the best king. And so it went and so on so i'm a different bird big bird. Flamingos in egrets. Until one little wing. The voice of the randstad. I should be king. Everybody listen to her for just a second until i started laughing. She still playing it's a little. She doesn't have a beautiful song. The common. That's ridiculously b mister. I'm a giant eagle took that as a scientist would have end this discussion inside by contest. Here right before sunset tomorrow and it's a son hits. That peak over there we'll take off and whoever can fly the highest with a king. That was his idea. It's all the birds last ended their nightly sayings and i came back the next day and they gathered and all the big birds have lined up for this race in the little birds kind of. Were scattered about in the little wren. Touch yourself up under the wing of the giant eagle. They got in there really good nice and snug. He wouldn't notice if he was pretty small and light after all. And i didn't realize that she was even there. Hit that peak. And they flew in they flew and some of the small and some of the. Until finally the richest freebirds.. The owl was the first of the three to give up. Is it too much. He said. Stop flying up. And then the buzzard the buzzard had such great aspirations. This weather going to happen today so we stop flying. Giant eagle. Please stop flying was tired. Great it almost reached the top of the sky. And the burger king. Wait little rant as he flew out from under. Cuz we. I am the burger king. Well of course this cause. More noise and squawking and squeaking everybody was surprised and shocked i didn't know what to do. Sunset. She's kind of like us she's smaller that's kind of appealing isn't it. You know and that's a good trait to have in a keg. And they're going on and on i'm talking about whether or not. She should be the king. What you put up a little. Feather. I don't want to be the king actually. And they were a little. She said what i wanted is what happened was i want conversation about who should be our leader. Shouldn't really just be the fastest or the wisest or the. Bird that can fly the highest it just be that bird with pretty feathers. Chicopee the bird that has an interesting song. It could be any of those things. Which is most important to us. Threats to the side. You know and the. Raising came up and said wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute. We all have gifts and i'll look at my beautiful black. If we look at all our guests how we ever going to decide. Is it ever going to decide by listening to each other. We're going to decide because we're going to listen. And decide who our leader is going to be if we'll have a leader at all. All she said. As he flew off into the four.

uuneedham_org

050213_Lyceum14_Gekas.mp3

Spirituality culture and science. Very few are more important than our time than the question of global climate change. Global warming. If in the ancient world. Emperor nero. Seaburn. Perhaps. Of north america. There are people who are taking local action. The very issues that lie behind. The fact that with 5% of the world's population. We here in the united states seem to produce. Some 25%. Of the greenhouse gases that lie behind the problem. Nearby in the town of newton. Underway. Through the green decade coalition. This morning our speaker comes. Commission. And from her role with the citywide energy commission. Environmental issue. And a well-informed person. I think that we are going to learn a good deal from her. About what it might be possible for us to do in the town of needham. With regard to this vital and global issue. In grad school 1994. I was very smug and environmentalist having already. Not my bike everywhere i didn't have a car. Recipe calculator own personal co2 emissions than i just thought mine would be lower than everybody else's. But i did travel around the world going on business. Evaluate where i stood in the whole spectrum of. Colluding personally and i think. 11 years ago. Stay home with my kids. Becoming to look at what they're. What they were doing in their lives. Obviously. Somebody called me that. International national and the state and regional. The basically the greenhouse effect. Gases gases into environmental. The earth doesn't have enough carbon sink that they're called to absorb. The carbon back into the cycle. Baby baby and they're predicting up in the next century will warm it up for about 3 more degrees. I'm talking about local. Much more strongly because of tsarist russia stronger waves. Great ways of adapting to. Virus and applications lyme disease. One example is abs light is going on in alaska where they. Boreal forest affair. And if you do have. Have an increase in asthma and some other student increase intolerant occupations and. Cancerous. This is your year hi wrestler have a city. In 1990 and 1988 international panel on climate change. Since 1988. 1990 was the first ipcc first. What's going on. A nice 91 is the framework convention on climate change. 1990 20 centimes. Protocol. Kyoto protocol. 2001 is america coors more rules on communication. 2004 restless wind in october. And like i said on wednesday. Created created. 999 we had an intern, development. Our starting point. Invigorated. Mary cowan. Strong advocate for auto equity. Integrated arts commission. On the regency level. An agreement. Between the new england governor signed in august of 2001. Country park. Agreement with another tank of a country but. And the goals are short-term to get to 1990 levels by 2010 midterm to get by 2020. Long-term look at seventy-five 85% below current levels because that's a scientific. In order to balance. Thataylaa. A scientific way. Honesty level the state finally announced its climate action plan in may if he doesn't it for that very exciting and now we are hoping that though. Let you know that there are. Conservation programs in states that everybody think i'll go into this more later but there's an efficiency programs and there is peace an energy efficiency programs on the industrial commercial level. Let you know what newton's numbers are in terms of. Where we are now and where we want to go. 1990. Government. 37 tons. 7000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. The city would represent about 3% of americans and. Design supercenter. In newton. On the city level ursa building department the mayor. The planning department who helped us. Developed this energy action plan. Most of the buildings. School. Measures already taken. The traffic light. Do leds. Another. Large very large microwave. High school. Persuaded the green.. The board of aldermen. Apartments. Building a engine south high school so they're them. Rainwater. Water water recycling. Going on. A lot of solar energy the green decade has. For the past four years and we started before the field has really started with a solar baseline count we would have been counted. We've also taken advantage of the mrad. Have fun. Weather massachusetts. If you look on your electricity bill you'll see two. Line items among others. What is an energy efficiency fund and one of the renewable energy fund. To all of you are paying into this fun. Efficiency. That you can get in your home. You've got a lot of money for the south high school. I'm working for my office repeatability to look at newton north high school. Top subsidized installation of. 11 installation speak a lot. Install we should have over 80 kilowatts of solar energy installed. One project the green project. Maintenance on the project. We are also putting up a kia and educational kiosk in front of that solar installations are the people will be aware of. Better that we found out every other month and we also have environmental page in the cab. Project i know there was one newton resident who's the other client i don't see her here today but. Computer project basically piggybacked onto the ncic stand residential efficiency programs. Encourage people to. Really gets a big chunks of energy use. We analyzed the results and work with the system just keeping it improve quality control. How many times has a double decker. Project where do more workout residential insulation workout. Revelation 4. Frantically internet. International council on local environmental initiatives and credited for. Started and helping jump-start a lot of energy action plan fittings baseline savella. Affiliated with. Staff staff from different towns go to. And again available. Got the flyer. It is important. Understood how much we're contributing by analyst. Character analyzer baseline and look at your energy bills and see all that at. And there's going to be very important if you are wanting to. Purchasing electricity. There's one program in the state of massachusetts tax deductible. Which i really appreciate. You are you donating money is going to go make a profit but hopefully we'll make a profit. Are recognizing into that development. List food if i can access the personal level and also on a larger level encouraging other people commercial with to do. Buddy boy. Less of an environmental impact. A hybrid vehicle to drive on or you can encourage your city to purchase hybrid vehicles. If it isn't easy pay off a off switch to a different lighting. Doing lighting first in a meeting the more expensive and longer a tax or later is that you eat it's harder to get for those longer playback. If you do all your easy access for your heart once deleted. If you can figure out a way to pay back 7 your payback. Swallow. Another idea. I'm an idiot heard of distributed generation a combined heat and power. This is my favorite. Is when you're generating power in the building instead of letting a power plant generated and miles away and then deliver it through transmission line you're actually. So you're actually having a boiler heating and. Electricity coming and you're doing it all in the basement. Electricity generation. 30% efficiency rate 70%. Carbon dioxide greenhouse gases. Binding power needs to be encouraged in applications where it's most economic and that would be in the hospital. 24/7. Necessary. Development process or some other way to encourage them to. Build buildings that go way beyond. Watertown and boston college. Yes one more thing we can do. I wanted to point out. We all have jobs during the day and things to besides us. For example yesterday. With this insulation works out that we had. In kind services provided so there you need to start identifying ways to leverage resources. Documents. On what other communities are doing and we're all kind of linked together through math climate action network with. 2000. The network is umbrella organization for all of the musical groups that are going out like green decade. Doing whatever they can to get the co2. Trying to get permanent in the city one of the fun events energy efficiency savings into more projects. And bring it back and. Going with the project and that is. Important to the bundle of together. Now who goes well beyond his job description he can electrical engineer but he's spendin staffing both the renewable resources committee and the. Without him retire in spring. Holding everything together. We're trying to make sure that you replaced with someone exactly like him which will be impossible. Beyond. Pendejada implement. Motivate. Compare. priorities and get people think about climate change. In this part of the world you can just close it or turn on your air conditioning nerve is there are ways to deal with those things without actually having to think about what you can do to mitigate the hole in vinyl problem. Indoor air movement. Problem problem. Production certainly related. And also there's a comprehensive planning document that's coming out soon in newton. We did the contractor and prime factor in that. Documents that was kind of nice. But we still need to think about how to create department and again how to get to the higher hanging fruit with i keep coming back because that's where we are right now and then we need to. And get to the windows that are 6 years old and it's gold. If you i feel that. Talk about hugh much and again is because we can adapt pretty quickly is is adaptation there there has been a study done for the greater boston area about what specifically. Climate change has the greater boston area. Example is increased snowfall. Tire for snow removal. Another with my neighborhood and related but they're dying pretty quickly. Replanting in-n-out to looking at the types of trees that are going to survive the extreme weather patterns that are. Happening with that are going to happen. The world has known. People who for that long. Understanding that we are going to be affected by climate change. Overnight everything it's kind of a position where it's too late to reverse it now it's just it's going to happen and we're just going to have to. Adapt. It is going to have to be talked about in some way. Try to claim the right of the. Opening the discussion let me see if i can't do that this time. You're opening story about. Cutting your own. Co2 emissions really struck me it reminded me of a story that was the. Onefold by germaine greer. About visiting india. Was there on behalf of population. And she gathered with people in of a hole about the size of our meeting house here. Weather with the whole village has about 300 people. And all of them kind of clustered at one end of the room. Leaving the other half of the room. Just for her. You realize that she was there with a message where she was supposed to say there are too many of you. That moment. You realize that there was only one person in the room that there was too many of. 60 in her soul person as many of the world's scarce resources and contributing is many pollutants. Were there. I think. President bush begin declining to engage in the kyoto protocol. Pacifically about india. Stainless these countries were left out of some of its rules because they were still in the process of economic development in the united states wooden barrel diversion. It strikes me that one of the issues in global equity. But you implied it that those of us who do. Contribute more. Proportionally. Co2 emissions. Have some extra responsibility. It reminds me of the old biblical principle that. Much has been given. Expected. So. Mike. Will now go into effect. Here in the united states. To do our bit. To help me. Of that treaty. Not at the national level by national policy but more by local. Wonderful array of. Opportunity. That individuals and communities can undertake. Help me. We leave the planet. Wesley snipes. In terrible shape. Children and our grandchildren. Account like needham might undertake. Start. Replacing the traffic lights with leds does anybody know if. Party. Possibly.. I know that there's another coalition which i didn't mention a newton that developed in the last year called the high-performance building coalition and its backing into leading them in voters and taxpayers we're trying to. Power in addition to all the other. Lately. I really. You would look at are feeling your home and replacing the refrigerator.. Together play sunday. A really good weight. I replacing old equipment like old boilers is gotta. Value in itself goes beyond. Many other step forward i think that's. Analyzing your bills before and after. That's great.. Back.. Things that i realized in thinking about my own home or thinking about secure our collective home. Is that we're going to have to think about what are reasonable payback.. Have over 12 your feedback here. You're excavating. What you want to do window replacement can be a 30-year payback ice kid replacing windows. That is one of the things you point out is that public policy. Cab lights on on subsidies and make a big difference here for the one of the things we need to be. Paying attention to his house public policy. Is implemented. 40 lark implementing insulation. Biomass generation project. Call. For tax breaks for that kind of investment that actually. Reduces. I need to figure it out because it needs to happen. But there are people who have questions and many of these things. The 1940. There was an electric trolley line. That went all the way from boston to worcester. Well companies didn't like that and they took political action and on. A national-level not only the trolley line from boston to worcester but trolley lines all across the country gradually disappeared during the 50s. And we're gone by the sixties. Which is. Replacing. The ordinary car for a vast increase in energy. Now. If i may. Summarize your talk. The history part of it. Over the past. For five years. With great. Effort and ingenuity. And no little expense. Bye. Call tanner 20,000 tonnes a year. Wow. He cannot. White what you want. 1710. 1700 *. Wow the people of newton at the other 98%. Wrapping up their energy emissions by. 100000 times a year. Maybe it's only. Aren't you. And if you're losing. Something else. Comment. There's only one staff person trying to implement all this but i agree with you i think that in order to get by 16. Permanent institutionalizing policies we need to put into place to get that back down and including in a footprint ologies and. But. Work so hard i could when we all know. Policy. We all know that without strong federal policies to get to at least a third 50% of. The source of the local americans really hard i mean 33% or 30% of news emissions is transportation. It's really unfair mean in terms of what we've chosen an accident on 30. Governing the cafe standards. The local activist group as local. Policymakers wheatstone. There are plenty of other people fighting for the cafe standards and control over. So that is residential, commercial and i didn't even talk about the software. they were doing similar to. It is kind of pathetic when you sit back and be produced about 100 tonnes from residential and small commercial. On their level and the green dollars a year comes out. Just under 300 times a year. Steven knight money. It is it addresses 20th represents 25% of the total reduction said we've done. Attitude. Separate curtis.. For our viewers and listeners cablevision reiterate 1.6 come up here. Many people attempt to me are not fully aware. Bet. Suburban utility vehicle. Are exempted. From automotive emissions standards than classified his truck then. this constitutes. A major loophole. Increases. One of those larger trunks that you've been discussing. The federal government hasn't gotten on board with climate change solutions. Having said that that the epa has had the energy star program the working again on building. Energy energy. And there are groups out there that are focusing on achieving and trying to get those regulations. The economically national policy issues. They're funny people who haven't lost sight of that. Linda davis you had a question. I don't have a question i have a suggestion there's a brand new bestseller out called collapse is anyone reddit. Written by jared diamond who wrote guns germs and steel. Really tells you what happens to societies when they don't pay attention to. Environmental problems. And it makes the title collapse very poignant. I can't recommend it highly enough excellent. Other questions and comments. Gabby body. This is actually a comment and it. 412. It's important. Because. The one of the arguments that's used by the current administration their supporters is that. You can't take action on climate change because it's too expensive and it will destroy the economy. Our way of life. What's really important instruction project. You can do this it's affordable it maybe saves money and has a payback and everything you're doing a much higher cost. Because you're a pioneer. You can actually see this but believe it or not happening. With some of the big electric power companies that are saying publicly. We know climate change is coming expect regulation to come our biggest. It's not the climate in the economy of. Sensitive. We're hurting ourselves by wade. And ice companies as towns. It shows how it can be done and it's going to bring the cost down overall. Renewable energy stronger player than europeans that wind turbine manufacturers most of them are european at number of mrdanish. Germany and japan. No it's cuz i know he's going to look like in. Pretty much stronger companies are european and asian. If i'm not mistaken you actually represent another way in which ordinary people are getting involved in. Inlet. You will work with us. coalition of. Organization that bring two corporations issues with regard to their environmental citizenship. And this whole new movement of investor activism. Call layne corporation to be better citizens on any of these issues i think is a tremendously important part of the larger picture. That's another place where sometimes we feel that we have little power. But in fact collectively we can often persuaded rather large entities to do the right thing. Appraise the issues. Assistant regulations is extremely important what's called a production tax credit. Like i used to work i've talked to my former employer at the end. Last year when the production tax credit had expired and they had renewed it they had to lay off people and now they have to attend subcontractor those people on. The cycle again. You talk about it being important to have a national energy policy to encourage reduction of. Greenhouse gases. And general energy efficiency. It seems to me that we have a very strong national energy policy. Completely consistent. But aimed at increasing. The consumption of petroleum products as much as possible. And coal to. And thereby increasing. Amount of greenhouse gas emissions. And that this. Regulations on tax credits and trade. We provide direct support for wasteful practices. And there are a lot of folks. Working very hard with a lot of money behind them. To promote. Disastrous policies. And it seems to me that a part of the solution has to be to stop these guys. And that we. Won't necessarily be able to do that simply by. Making our personal energy use more efficient. I just wanted to point out that.. At the last general assembly of the unitarian universalist church. Global climate change was. Designated the study action issue of 2004 to 2006 and so there is a group in this church which will be gathering information and giving it to people about what they can do personally to. Reduce co2 emissions and i do think that even though is something small personal action. Are contributing to global climate change hopefully this will translate to more careful voting and support of candidates so i think. Bye-bye bringing it home it does have a political effect and i think it's pretty clear that what we're talking about our. Issues at the state and federal level that really need to be addressed so i i do think that there's a connection between what you do personally and just getting climate change on your own personal agenda so i'm i'm hoping that that. Has a larger effect than even just the the reductions but people in this group should be watching for more information to come from. And the fact that 140 other countries has signed on to the climate in katie's that off of the alarm signal. Never underestimate the capacity of a small group of committed people. How to get to bring about change in fact if it's only through such small groups of. Has ever taken place i think is one of the things that were attempting to do here this morning is also stimulates the beginning of some town-wide activism. Not here in the town of newton took my card in the town of needham that might emulate what our neighbors and in newton have been doing. I'm aware that sounds like arlington massachusetts have by town-wide action. Actually done some rather exemplary thing. There's a good deal of environmental concern here in the citizenry. The finding that small group of committed citizens that will be get the ball rolling and do the organizing that will. Nearby. Where are the fire hanging. Citizen base program that release attend. To the questions of responsibility to coming generation i think we should thank katherine morning and give her another round of applause.

uuneedham_org

20190915_1145-sermon-community-catie.mp3

Some of you may recognize this story. Lewis brown's parents joseph and clementina remember their son as kind and compassionate. When it home he spent time with his nintendo. And with books an avid reader. Who is dreams of becoming an engineer and then the first black president of the united states and was active in his community through a teens against gun violence group. He believes in peace and is in his own and in his neighbor's potential for greatness. Tragically lewis was killed in the crossfire of a shootout in 1993 when he was just 15 years old. At that time there were no homicide response protocols in the city of boston there dozens of people year were murdered. Lewis's parents and siblings were left bereft without specialized support as they buried lewis and dealt with an unfamiliar criminal justice system. Some of you know what happened next. Lewis's parents founded the louis d brown peace institute in 1994 to carry on their son's legacy of peacemaking and to develop specialized support for families and communities impacted by homicide. From the very beginning the peace institute focused on both violence prevention and support services in the wake of violence. By 1996 the city of boston and the boston police departments among other agencies began formally referring survived victims to the peace institute a practice which. Continues today. We've hosted lewis's mother tina sherry here at first parish to speak about the peace institute programs to defuse violence and comfort those afflicted affected. And many first parishioners have participated in the annual mother's day walk for peace fundraiser and march. We are proud to support the peace institute and its incredible work. Could you raise a hand if you donated to or participated in the walk. 4 piece. Thank you all so much. In the spring of 2019 to louis brown peace institute turn 25 years old. And ice have greatly expanded their programming and publications and their work is still deeply needed. In boston last year there were 56 murders. And 202 victims of gun violence. The peace institute continues to respond to such trauma grief and deep need for community healing. And it remains a proactive organization. The peace institute offers its pathways to peace program to boston area students to train young people to be resilience and caregiving peacemakers. Among other programs. Are so many terrible losses tina sherry and so many others at the peace institute are working to transform the greater boston community away from violence and trauma. And toward peace and healing. Their goal is to render their survivor support services unnecessary to transform boston into a healthy community that is not impacted by gun violence and homicide. The possibility and practice of healthy communities is of particular importance to us as unitarian universalist. I was thinking about the work of the peace institute at the annual june gathering of the american unitarian universalist ministers at uuma ministry days this year held in spokane washington. Our colleague rev leslie takahashi was selected to offer the closing lecture the prestigious berry street essay. Her essay was entitled truth. Trauma and transformation embracing the cracks and the goal. A reference to the japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold infused lacquer. Reverend takahashi took us her colleagues on a journey that afternoon she spoke of the truth. Of our messy complex world full of sorrows and oppression and prejudice all of which still live in our unitarian universalist communities that we wish it weren't so and there's some among us would rather ignore that reality. She spoke of the trauma. Of that truth of prejudice oppression and sorrow to unitarian universalist of marginalized identities especially when that truth is ignored or worse actively dismissed. As she spoke of the transformation that's possible in and through our unitarian universalist communities if we were to take. Truth and trauma seriously. And gently. Her lecture was riveting brutal and inspiring. You can find it by searching for the uun mayberry street lecture archives online or you can ask me to help you find it. What struck me most about reverend takahashi's essay was this paragraph from her section on truth. True community saves us food community breaks us. For many of us when asked what is larger than we are we say community. If community is now what we hold sacred and holy. It best be intentional. Covenant oil. And real. As in if community itself is what binds us together is what we hold of worth. Is why we gather in a meeting house like this one. Then the community best beat healthy inclusive beloved community. Because foo community that cannot recognize the complexity of truth or the prevalence and impact of trauma. Will not lead to the inner or communal transformation we seek. If unitarian universalist. Community perpetuates harm. Reverend takahashi's word stayed with me. As a minister serving a congregation primarily of humanist so with differing beliefs about what and if there is a divine spirit. Humanist care deeply about the deeds of humanity about justice equity and compassion in human relations as expressed in our unitarian universalist second principle. We strive to co-create communities infuse with our values of kindness spirituality. We strive to co-create and reverend takahashi's words community that is intentional. Covenant. And real. I've been thinking about how we actualize such a vision of healthy beloved community. Later in the summer i thought of reverend takahashi's words again while reading black author and activist adrienne maree brown's first book emergent strategy strategy. In this book brown describes through analogies in the natural world has she and other activists collaborators practice in every possible way. The world they want to see. In short form emergent strategy is one method of cultural change. In brown's words emergent strategy is a way of describing the adaptive and relational leadership model found in the work of black science fiction author octavia butler one of brown's key inspirations. And it's the specific plans of action personal practices and collective organizing tools that account for constant change. And rely on the strength of relationship for adaptation. Unitarian universalist are loving emergent strategy. Because it is a way of describing covenant old values-based beloved community. Exactly what we dream about for our congregational communities and the larger world. One of adrienne maree brown core principles of emergent strategy is that small is good. Small is all. The large is a reflection of the small. The natural analogy she uses for this concept of small is all is the fern. Which is a fractal. Brown rice a fractal is an object or quantity that displays self-similarity which means it looks roughly the same at any scale. Small-scale solutions impact the whole system how we are at the small-scale is how we are at the large-scale what we practice at the small-scale sets the patterns for the whole system. Burns are like this imagine one in your mind each. Frond of a fern has many. Peanut. Along its midline at each pina then branches into even smaller. Manuel's. Like their own tiny fern frond. In her book brown shares from her own life about how she used to be. The burnt-out numbed out scarcity minded nonprofit executive. So she was working for cultural transformation in her work life she mimicked america's dominant work culture. Brown credits her friends and family with helping her break out of this mold and she practice. Being more compassionate and gentle with her own feelings and body. As a starting place for becoming more compassionate and gentle with others. How brown treated herself. Was a fractal. Opinion. For how she wanted to treat others and if she wanted the whole world the whole frond to behave. She no longer worked until she was burnt out. No longer numbs her feelings with endless distractions. No longer believe that there were not enough resources for all beings to thrive. We see this philosophy as well in the work of the louis t brown peace institute which infuses all of their highly relational programs with their core principles of love unity faith hope courage justice and forgiveness. Art ministerial intern sally reminded me this week of the well-loved quote attributed to ancient chinese philosopher allowed to. Which humor me reading it responsibly from our graham knows it's in the back of the gray hymnal. Number 602. If there is to be peace. If there is to be peace in the world. If there is to be peace in the nations. If there is to be peace in the cities. If there is to be peace between neighbors. If there is to be peace in the home. Thank you. In our reading today we heard from adrian marie brown that in our capitalistic consumerist dominant american culture many of us have been socialized that constant growth and critical mass are the ways to create change. Emergence shows us that adaptation and evolution depend more on critical connections. Dare she say love. The quality of connections between the nodes in the patterns. And we know how to connect. And we long for it. I really appreciate by the way that you will just like okay we're going to the wave it's really a pleasure to serve you all. This is the say to co-create healthy beloved community on a global scale we have to begin with quality loving one-on-one connections that embody our unitarian universalist values of equity justice and peace. Are caring and healing relationships to our individual selves and to our immediate family friends and neighbors are the fractal blueprints. For transforming the whole world. And it's reverend takahashi said that goes for our relationships in our congregations as well. Are denominations few articles that describe. The qualities of healthy congregation of people relating to each other individually in from one group to another. Usher this condensed list with you. That healthy congregations are. Mission-focused. Committed to excellence in their sunday services programming and justice projects. Joyful. Find first and foremost. Nurturing trust respect and honesty. Generous with time talent and treasure. With reasonable boundaries to prevent burnout. Comfortable with reasonable discomfort. Engaging in healthy conflict resolution. Able to take what our interim pastor reverend katie we would call the balcony view. Seeing the big picture. Empathetic and responsive to a diversity of experiences and stories like what we heard from reverend takahashi about truth and trauma. And understanding the congregations. Like all communities. Our work in progress. It's not enough time today to do a full assessment of. Whether first parish is perfectly embodying all of these qualities. I hope some caught your attention. Because with some you feel in your heart. The first parish is doing them well. Because with others you feel in your heart first parish does have some work to do. To become a healthier faith community. Our faith community a congregation of individuals couples friends and families. And even our larger communities of boston metrowest in the united states and of humanity. Are larger communities health depends on the quality of the love connection. Between each of us. Our community's health depends on the quality of the love and relationship we have. With each other with ourselves. With our neighbors. And we'll load is worth it. Love is hard work isn't it. It takes mindfulness and intention. To embody the values. Of our covenants and the qualities of a healthy congregation. A generosity respect. Comfort with discomfort. Kindness first and foremost seeing the big picture. Focusing on our mission of a transformed world. That's the lofty realization of our congregational covenant that we practice love diversity and service here and then practice it in our homes neighborhood schools community organizations and workplaces so that beloved community is co-created everywhere. We certainly learned from all of our overlapping communities as we try out our covenants will practices and then we bring back what we've learned to first parish to begin the process again. We begin with practice in the smallest frackville learn from our experiences and careful reflection. And expand the impact of our values. There's deep hurt. In the wider world. And deep hurt right here among ourselves awaiting the healing and beloved community of our unitarian universalist values. Realized. To adapt our chalice learning from lenny lunch shoemaker. May our community lead us to greater knowledge and tolerance. Maybe it's warm lead us to greater love and compassion may it's lightly dust or greater wisdom and understanding. Yes each of us is but a tiny flame. But together we can enlighten the world. Majora respect and love the in our hearts and in our relationships. Mavis bisso. Supposed to be an amen.

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050417_Lyceum17_Buehrens.mp3

Power. No one. Carl cardinal. There was only one. Publicly. Professor at harvard. Several major projects. About. Disturbed. We're here. The world. Water park. I'm going to make my prediction. What college park cardinals was. So why. I too made a trip with my wife and i went there. Just about the time. It was a great time for. About 4 almost no money. Remember. Died in 1604. Today belong. Was so far ahead of time. Much of western religious. Call curtis. The finest with probably. The god is not. About what. Also. Marxist. Where. With the secular authorities for the. Whitney 1984 i thought still active. Paleteria reviews. Geopolitical. 26 years ago. For the college of cardinals. With resistance. Of course windsor. The challenges faced by. There have been of court. Has been. Capitalism. Toward a greater appreciation of. Store modern. Within. The organized. Acceptance. Sexuality. Responsibility. Splatterpark. Logical. Developed. Materialistic. Rather than focus on. Cover bodily. Spherical. Rapport. Celebrated for. I'm also married to a woman. So when i had the opportunity in 1995 to go to rome. My wife. Did i bring you. The reason i was going you was that. Which was founded in 1970. As his successor. President. I was an honorary president. And i went. About 1,200. Gathering. The challengers before humankind. I have the chance in 1990. Number. And then again i went in another. For the first time in a muslim country. Cinnamon jordan. One-on-one with some of the senior cardinals. But there are. Respectful. I was surprised. Complimentary. Economics. Diplomatic advice like that. Who was the president of the rockefeller foundation. Speaking about the brakes global challenge. From the world. Spiritual issue. Northwest. Others from around the world. Challenge. In their own territory. Right after that. I wonder if you. About the spiritual and moral responsibilities we have. Geraldo. Aspect of the creation. Are timer. And i wonder if you don't also agree with me one important element. Behind. Other companions. Are unwilling. Respond. Several. Immediately. You're absolutely right. Deprived my nieces my nephew. Whataburger. You're so beautiful. At the age of 9. I go back to that village and i do. And i see. Population. The forest. For firewood. Building material. Performa. But you know he said. There is also a religious and spiritual ecology in every place on this planet. A my native village. Traditional way of life which was simple. Undemanding on nature. And all of its advertising. And bender. Where there are. A great deal of emphasis on reproduction. Central right. Often have to do with their sexual maturation of the rights for young women. My conversion. Thornton park. Our village. Roughly half christian. The other part in anime. Material world. I wonder if you don't agree with me. Monogamy. All i could say. What's good reply. Cardinals are likely. About. The whole question. Opening up. And other religious community. Part of the bureaucracy. Whip non-christian. Which will be an issue not only. But also in europe. More. Europe. Northern europe. Rather than. Made up of lay people who are. Focolare baldwin. And we're active georgia. Significant. Job. Shepherd of the lord. Job. President nomination. No accident. From his responsibilities over interfaith relations. Ritual. How far. Is it appropriate to go. No place around the world more important. Local culture. Questions about it. For the current moment. Will appropriately paul. I remember. Jordan. But cardinal. Number of other. Were there. About. Interfaith relations. There are after all. Starting tomorrow. My own prediction. Out of it. Encounter with variation around the world. Likely encounter. Serialism. All the modern world. With all of my. Route to the first world. Global cell. This is where i live. But it was. Humanity. Challenges facing humankind right now. Attention. Somebody. Country. Dominate. That the roman church. Roman imperial. Ourtime. Of the world conference. Particularly about matter. Human sexuality. With the theological. Catholicism. Cooperation. And other religious leaders around the world. There are. Overarching. Jennifer. Oregon. The roman catholic community. Will pick up. How. Progressive conservative. Horses will be acted out. If someone like. Progressive. Conservative. They're all that. Recognize you know. But there are good people. Are universalists forbearers. Vatican to however just opened up the possibility that there are. A moral. But ever since. Asserting. Cardinal ratzinger. Progressive. Some of the most progressive. Tomorrow. Brazil. German. Within catholicism. Hierarchical. Another progressive. Controversy over. Sexual misconduct. Hierarchical organization. So what constitutes. Progressive. Not going to be. They are going to be concerned about progress being made. Carmen pritchett. The question is about a relationship. I don't. Almost entirely in american political. Preservation. In america. For the first time in my memory. Calculator. Made. 2000 2000. But i what i do. Is a concerted attempt. Majority leader. Basic. Greater portion. Nearby. Divided between. Progressive. Conservative or orthodox. Stomachs and orthodox judaism. Orthodox. Liberal. Secular people. More on the side of the equator. Isabella. How big of a factor do you see the geographical economic between the third world and. North americans and europeans on the one hand. Chinese americans of the africans on the other. Mobile. And then why. Well i don't. I do. Cardinal cardinal. Remember. Of brazil. Other languages. I think that they're going to be. Where the power is. Poverty. Of course my wife. Forum. Or an ecumenical. But that's great. They have exercise. Population growth. Working again. About. What's a popper. Mero. Spiritual. Moral. Represent. Organization. Represent. Western construction. Allies. Greater autonomy over their own reproductive. This is one aspect. Why i think. Not an attractive. Witcher 3 alliance of conservative christian. Or not exactly progressive. About. In the world. Other questions,. I forgot. America america. Indicating is that. Of america. Ability. 60% of american catholics would like to see the possibility. Spiritual gifts. Married. I don't imagine that. Weather art. Multiple. Very courageous. Roman catholic. Sexual misconduct inter-parish. Was as much a part of the problem. The latter part of the book. He really called for. Amber faith express. I don't think that they're nearly as much of that as many people. Corporate. Structure. Albuquerque. Likely to predominate. Because after all. Meaning of a global board of directors. As much as one. Spiritual and moral. Organizational. Self-preservation. What i think is actually. Apologies. Call dad.

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20100926_deepening_the_conversation_molly_sermon.mp3

As the leaves begin to turn colors in the air begins to turn chris. As the kids had back to school and we come back here to church. As the cider donuts at the fryer and the winter squash begins to ripen. Something sinister this way comes. Something that feeds on fear. Something that can turn us into screeching zombies something that creeps like toxic slime into every corner and of our psyches. And it's not halloween. Collection season this year election season antics. Have really been getting to me. A few weeks ago in fact. Glenn beck and courage the religious conservatives in his audience to reclaim the civil rights movement. Andaz. I saw katie couric earnestly ask her national viewership whether we thought should be allowed to build a mosque at ground zero. Something inside me snapped. That's not even a question you can ask iran to that katie and i gave the throw pillows a lecture on the importance of accurate language and the right to religious freedom it was an impressive lecture i want to punch him back in the face i yelled at my husband as he walks unsuspecting in the door. In other words this election season has turned me into a crazy person. And i can't help but think that somebody out there is glad about that. Because my vision has narrowed. Katie couric's inaccuracies aren't going to change the constitutional perfection protection of religious freedom. There is no way glenn beck scrambling could taint the legacy of martin luther king jr and other heroes and civil rights history. But here i am ranting about them. Instead of giving my attention to very real threats to religious freedom and civil rights in our country. Weeks ago james and i were watching coverage of the glenn beck rally and everyone was all up in arms about it and he turned to me and said do you think we're in orwell's 1984. All getting rally to fight an enemy that isn't even real. Is not even doing anything of substance and yet we feel compelled to respond to engage. And i thought about that for a while. And i began to think that perhaps it is exactly the fact that we encounter him as unreal that makes him so powerful. John o'donohue says the media wraps everything in a cellophane of sound and the ghost surface of the virtual overlays the breathing earth. With his rally. And what's a responding liberal outrage about it. Glenn beck got the entire media and us with it chasing ghosts. Phantom issues and causes. Set of cats are feet from touching ground. To the breathing earth. And the breathing people. Both suffering. We're fighting at 11 without substance and that's a fight he can always win. There's no way to engage with that level of conversation. Encouraging an audience to engage of the shallow level and forcing the national dialogue to the same place. And before we left the other side of the political spectrum off-the-hook i should mention that i am often frustrated. With keith olbermann for the same antics. And the fun poking of jon stewart and stephen colbert. While they provide some much-needed comic relief. Often serve only to perpetuate disengagement with real issues. Andreo people. As we stand back aloof. And laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. Now perhaps you are not as susceptible as i am to the shenanigans of synagogues and television personalities. But even so i can't help but feel that the national dialogue has got a lot of us distracted. From the real issues at hand. Someone has stolen the horizon and the mountains. The expansive places where we can see broadly and clearly. They've been narrowed. Our vision has been limited and we've let it happen. The stories tickets hold in the national spearing that capture attention effectively hide the deeper issues at work. The outrage surrounding the building of a muslim community center in the neighborhood of the former world trade centers. Shadows is very real and very scary and time of slum anti-islamic sentiment that is growing. And that is spreading religious intolerance in our country. Real people's lives and livelihoods are being threatened or limited by xenophobic fear and hatred. It all we hear are the gongs crashing. The shops of the tea parties and the liberal anxieties about them both masks. Very real suffering resulting from the most drastic increase in economic disparity our country has seen in years. 1 and 7 people in our country are living in poverty. 1 + 7. And all we're hearing our cymbal clashing. The industry of distraction makes us forget that we live in a universe. We forget that we live next door to people who are struggling to pay the rent and see their families. We forget that we live in community with muslim americans who are increasingly made to feel unwelcome among us. Headed to shameful. It is shameful and it is high time for us as religious people to clear our vision and trouble the waters of distraction. As john reminded us and our first service of the church year. Religion at its best helps us find deeper ways of living. Kenexa with the jeepers wells of meaning that can spring up in our hearts. This community when we're doing well reminds us every moment that we live in a universe. It encourages us to look beyond the narrow confines of our limited understanding to the broader horizon and mountains that call us to something better. We are called to recognize our connections to each other and to proclaim the fact that we are one human family. In this instance that means we are called to remember and actually see the real people. Struggling below the shallow stories we hear. We are called to keep pulling the conversation down deeper to that level. The real issues. As live in real people's lives. When we go there we might just find that what we're talking about is so basic and right and true. It cannot be denied. The recognition of human dignity and the desire for human flourishing. Wouldn't we all be better served by giving our attention to these deep screws. Instead of heating those who swale and splash around in the shallows. Lately i have felt positively surrounded by noisy gongs and clanging cymbals. When does the apostle paul my tasks. Where is the love. Sisters and our brothers. I know we have no shortage of it here. But are we sharing it freely beyond our walls. Our faith has a saving message of compassion respect and justice. We have declared as a denomination that we stand on the side of love. No matter the question or the cost. Especially in the face of those who would deny it. But we. Here. In these pews we are the ones who have to live that promise. We are the ones who have to remember i'm constantly name out loud. The key issue. Human dignity. We ask where is the voice of liberal religion in the public sphere. Why don't we hear ourselves represented. The answer is simple we are the voice of liberal religion. And the public sphere is our communities and neighbors. We are the ones who can deepen the conversation. One person at a time. By opening up our vision. By looking at what's really behind the drama and the rhetoric. And by talking about it. Naming it in every encounter. To do this with power we simply need to speak from the heart and listen with heart. I hear a lot of talk of claiming theological language so we can converse with the other side. Learning their language and combining it with our own. But i think finding are prophetic voice. In the public sphere is something even deeper than that. It's about taking the conversation to a deeper place in us. We can have the voice of a prophet and the faith to remove mountains. And so can the other side. But if we are not to speak by love and to listen with love and our words will be in vain. If i words and our silences are not rooted in a religious fervor for the preciousness and worth of living beings then we are only adding our voices to the clanging noisy throng. When i speak of deepening the conversation. I don't only mean that we need to. Raise awareness of the deeper problems at work. We also need to encounter each other. In a space beyond words. As the song that says deep calls unto deep. The compassion in us can call forth the compassion in those around us. When someone speaks to you from the heart. Can you help but feel opens to them. Connected in your common humanity. When someone listens to you from the heart can you help but feel that your humanity has been deeply acknowledged. And yet even that is not quite enough we can look beyond distraction we can name real situation we can speak from the heart. But unless we are speaking from a place of real experience. And relationship. We will never have the transformative effect we desire. Deepening the conversation finally requires deepening our own understanding. How can we speak from the heart about real suffering and injustice around us. If we don't quite get it. The claymore prophetic voice about what is happening we have to be in the thick of it. Authority can only come from the power of our experience. We can't stand on the shore. I talked about the importance of the deep. We have to wait on in. The deeper were willing to wade into the waters of experience and relationships the deeper we will take our conversations with those we meet. And with the world at large. We each have areas of life for our experience runs deep and feeds our passion for justice. And i'm sure that many of us would wish to understand. To expand our understanding still further. And this congregation can support us in that desire. This afternoon during social hour you'll see table set-up and parish hall. And they will be full of opportunities from our social action committee. To gain the kind of experience to make the kind of relationships. But take our commitments to love and justice. To a whole new level. Maybe you feel called to deeper understand the iniquity and public education and you want to volunteer with the mater school in dorchester. Maybe you're compelled to learn about the experiences. Homeless men and women that you would meet. And you want to start sandwiches with our generic ministry team. Or helping family from pathways family shelter. Maybe the deep and you calls to the deep and some other experience altogether and you want partnership to make it happen. I encourage you either way to visit our social action fair in the parish hall. To learn about the many ways that this congregation is already trying to wade into the water. Before i close i want to come full circle. And i just want to say a word to glenn back. Glenn wherever you are. I'm sorry that i wanted to punch you in the face. You should probably know that i will no longer be allowing you to steal my perspective. My horizons in mountains. Rather and i hope you will excuse me i think that i will turn my back on you. I move instead to kneel down before the poor. Before my muscle neighbor. Before anyone whose civil rights are being denied. I will kneel down. To discover what i must do. I'm glad you can turn with me if you like. And finally this is my prayer for our congregation for us. May our vision be clear and wide antique. Maybe trouble the waters of distraction. Maybe always see and name the deep things. Inequality injustice. Hope. Compassion dignity. May the depth of our hearts always call i l and ourselves to account. And when we stand on the shore but long for the deep waters of understanding. May we always have the courage. To wait on him. The way don in.

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20111106_exploding_stars_christian_sermon.mp3

So around our community and in much of the world some of our christian friends are celebrating all saints day today. I think we unitarian-universalist are a little leery of saints. We worried about what having saints fight mean. Does that mean we think that some people are better than most of us. But they managed to avoid all those little traps the rest of us fall into. And if so where they born that way. Yeah we may speak of some of our great liberal forebears as saints william ellery channing or clara barton or hosea blue perhaps. But we don't mean saints really right. Because i think some people like us that's the common idea there special difference. In some way that seems a little strange even if it's admirable. It's troublesome i suppose. But still i come to you today to make a formal application for sainthood. Not for myself don't get worried. But for one of our liberal forebears for one of those who came before us and to whom we owe a great debt of gratitude. Therefore here before you today. I nominate monroe husbands for sainthood. Now those of you who knew monroe will probably think this might be a little funny. He was a member here for many years and from what i know. He was not always the easiest person on earth to get along with. He wasn't perfect as some of you know him far better than i do. Rihanna powerful a more lasting a more profound effect on liberal religion in this country. Then just about anyone else. His effective tens of thousands of people. More than any of unitarian universalist i can think of right now. Perhaps i'm getting ahead of myself. As i said monroe was for many years a member of this parish. He was involved in told tending services. He was among the founders and most active members of a theater group here. But he was also more than just the man this parish new within these walls. He was a staff member. Of the american unitarian universalist association. I was messed up the unitarian universalist association today it was the american unitarian association back then. And there he carried out a radical unusual growth strategy. It wasn't his idea but he was the one who made it come to life. You see the american unitarian association in late 40s. Did not have a lot of money for things like starting churches. In fact i don't think they had a lot of money for anything. Nothing's changed right. They didn't have money money to send missionaries to communities across america and make new communities of faith. What they did have was a country that was growing and a religious movement that wasn't. And i also had an idea. Why not encourage small groups of les unitarians to make new congregation in the towns they have moved to. After all this was post world war 2 america where millions of people were moving around the country for school. For work. For many reasons. Suburbs were springing up overnight. Unitarians once found mostly along the east coast. With pockets in the rest of the country where suddenly moving so far fun places. Places like cheyenne wyoming in denton texas. Phoenix arizona in bloomington indiana. Chapel hill north carolina and oxford mississippi and hundreds of other places stretching all the way from cape cod to honolulu as one person put it. And monroe husbands had correspondence with those unitarians. Some of them have grown up in the church and moved elsewhere others who were just interested in learning more. Ecorse wanted with emily's communities and in hundreds of others giving assistance and encouragement as they founded new. Fellowships. As they called their small groups. In all more than 600 fellowships were founded between 1948 and 1967. 600. I've seen again 600. We only have a thousand churches today. Many of these groups faded into oblivion. Summer still small groups meeting in back rooms and small borrowed spaces keeping the dream of liberal religion alive and isolated places. I know because i've preached on those back rooms and john has two i'm sure. And some of these fellowships have grown into large successful churches. Like the one in knoxville tennessee where john began is pastor. You're the northeast the fellowship movement mostly seemed like a far-off strange thing. After all you can't walk 5 minutes here without running into historic unitarian church. Massachusetts in fact had only one congregation founded in the fellowship.. The church down on the cape and falmouth where i had the honour of preaching one sunday last summer. Put on the part of the country where i grew up in texas and places like it. I think it's impossible to imagine what unitarian-universalism would look like today without those fellowships. The story of unitarian-universalism out there is largely the story of the fellowships. In the southwest and the rocky mountains an area stretching from louisiana to arizona and all the way to montana. There were 10 churches. Hope unitarian denomination in 1947. By 1967. 52 new fellowships have been found it. 52. One of those communities. Was college station texas. Wherefore unitarians had the idea of forming one of these new fellowships. Billy and betty thomas. And richard and georgene terrible. Who all knew each other through the department of oceanography and meteorology at the agricultural and mechanical college of texas. Now called texas a&m university. They approach their friends and colleagues about starting a fellowship. And within months. In october of 1956 they founded the unitarian fellowship of college station. Now call the unitarian universalist church of the brazos valley. Those four people started with an idea. And i agree to a fellowship. And that grew into a community that works for change and its larger community. A few years later they had an offer from a local baptist church that was folding. The baptist said if you can take over the monthly mortgage payment. You can have the building. At the meeting they held to discuss this offer. Held in a members living room. They passed pieces of paper. And needs person each couple put the number they thought they could afford to contribute. The total wasn't even close. Barely half what they needed. And so the group sat in silence. Until one person spoke up. Perhaps she said. We should pass those papers around again. They did. And when the number was out of the second time. It was enough. And so they bought that building. It was into that building just a few years ago that i walked. I had known about unitarian universalism my whole life. My mother had grown up in a unitarian church in texas. One of those few that existed for 1947. So we'd never gone when i was young. I'd attended sporadically in college. Sunday mornings are not made for college students. But it was a day in january of 2006 when i walked into that building that old baptist church. On wellborn road. That my life was saved. I've been struggling. Anchorless. Stuck. In some parts of my life and grieving the death of a friend. And the community and that old building in the congregation that have been started by four people. 50 years earlier. Was what saved me. They gave me a place to belong away to talk about my feelings. A place to think. My strange thoughts. And come to some truth i hope. And a place to learn to live out a life worth living. That's my home church. And the congregation sponsoring green me for ministry. And all of it started with four people. The thomas is on the tar balls. And the advice and support they got. From nana's other than first parish member monroe husbands. Husbands provided assistance to all those hundreds of fellowships and he changed the world. It took. What have become legendary trips as part of his work. On one he drove more than 7,000 miles. Visiting more than thirty fellowships those forming and those already formed. In 28 days. Yes it's more than one fellowship a day. Husbands background within communications in advertisement. And he was a master at helping fellowships get their message out to the community. And to find others who might be interested in something like that. He wrote this advertisement which many fledgling fellowships used form of their new organization. What is your idea of true religion. Unitarianism is a way of life. A life of vigorous thought constructive activity of generous service. Not a religion of inherited creed's revered saints. Or holy books. Unitarianism is not an easy religion. It's a man's that people think out their beliefs for themselves and then live those. The stress is placed upon living this life nobly and effectively. Rather than on the preparation for an after existence. If you have given up old time religion. Unitarianism has the answer for you. And ascended the appetite. These fellowships change lives for those who were brought in by advertisements like them who were a part of these fellowships and for those who know nothing of unitarian universalism but live in the communities where these fellowships are. My home church opens the first racially integrated daycare and not part of texas. At a time and that was a dangerous thing to do. That church in knoxville ran day camps were black and white children could spend time together. One of the few places where such things happened. In the jim crow south. In other communities those fellowships at run food pantries have campaign for affordable housing. Have made real differences to the lives of those that live near them. Inshorts i'm making the case today that margaret mead the brilliant anthropologist once articulated so beautifully. Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has. Does margaret mead said. These fellowships. The more than 300 of them that still exists today forming one third of congregations in the ua and about one-third of the membership as well. These 300 that exist have changed the world. And mostly i think for the better. That doesn't mean there haven't been problems. Many of the fellowships have a reputation for being closed communities not welcoming to newcomers. And not eager to have ministerial leadership. Perhaps because of the beginning they had as isolated communities. There's more than a little truth to this. I've been to some of those fellowships. But even if they're. Even with their problems. They are places that make a difference. Install many of those fellowships are grown into large thriving communities led by ministers. And many more are doing great religion and difficult situations. Where they're tight community is sometimes a necessity. Go back to my point about the saints. All of these people those who founded fellowships and those who are members of them now. I consider saints and monroe to. And all of us here today too. We're saints not just because of something we've done in our lives. But we still have the potential to do. There's a popular hymn. I'll read it to you. I sing a song of the saints of god patience and brave and true. Toiled and fought and lived and died for the lord they loved a new. And one was a doctor. And one was a queen. And one was a shepherdess on the green. They were all of them saints of god and i mean. God helping to b12. I can buy lesbia scott. And i mean to be 12. Today i see this hope this hope for changing the world in our communities still. But also in other places like the occupy movement. A handful of people went to occupy wall street less than 2 months ago. Who knew what would happen after that. Certainly not the people who went to that protest. And i imagine not anyone else either. My point is that we have the power to make things happen if only we have the courage to do something about. I absolutely believe that. And i hope you do too. I think the people here in this room have greatness in them. We do just like those who founded new communities of faith. In tiny towns across the nation. Just like the brave souls out intense in the cold right now do we square. They may fail. They may succeed beyond our wildest dreams but either way i think them saints. And truly all of us are saints 2. Not because we're perfect. Not because we always do the right thing. We are saints because of the potential we have the potential to do great things. We all of us have the chance to do something amazing. And we're better when we work together. Even if it's only four of us. In a living room in college station texas. May we have the strength to recognize our power. To work together for great purpose. And to know that is saint lies within each of us. Waiting for the chance. To perform a miracle. And so may it be always.

uuneedham_org

031102_Jim_Sherblom--Core_Values-Health_Care.mp3

Second-guess what could have been a pill villars the founder of families usa. Are probably the largest and most significance of consumer. Rights organization in the field of healthcare reform bill unfortunately has had to reschedule with us and will be with us next sunday on the 9th and i've prevailed upon my good friend jim troublin who was the guest earlier in the series. Turn this morning and dialogue with me a little bit about some related economic issues in innocence about the most current economic news that we've been reading in the papers this week which has been filled with such matters. Recall is both the principal of his own venture capital firm in biotechnology and a candidate for the unitarian universalist ministry i should say that when he was with us the last time he had yet to go before our committee on ministerial fellowship to be. Welcomed and approved for that for organizations but sets. Congratulations kim may 16th. The papers this week really were filled with an awful lot of economic news. I want to start in the field where you work specifically. And where phil is going to be talking with us next week they're concerned about the very rapid increases. Healthcare. It always seems to me to be a director of an almost ironic result of our improvements in technology you're constantly investing. Improvement in healthcare technology. What you see is the future of cost of healthcare in our society. When you look in the poop. My daughter had cancer this summer. Prognosis. Positive outcome. Biologic. Will end up at a certain cost for new drug. But we have to be leaving the hospital earlier. Positive outcome to the system. Problem. Are you willing to pay more money. 20% off a hellcat cost. Amplification sounds like free trade. Comparisons with canada. Uncover people versus. System. Some people allowed to negotiate. But you moved into an area that i think really does that concern a lot of people. The squeeze in many parts of our healthcare system. Has impacted people who are providers about hospitals that are losing money that are instead of being closed in the business of local. Municipalities. Providers of primary care doctors in the lights are not exactly prospering their incomes of nothing been going up. Drug and technology companies. On the basis of also having received some benefits from the public for research and development whether in the form of actual investments by the national institutes of health or. Secondary. Therapy. Public control on there. Their costs as a result of public investments in denison. Well. Medical research basic research in this country band. There's no direct correlation. Adult. Make it through without getting reimbursement. Pocket. It was the most expensive ever introduced in the us. The regulatory people secure an insurable. The problem is. This is this one makes sense at all. Dumb. The development of drugs and technology here in the united states where there are subsidies for. Research and development and where is marketing costs seem to get built into the pricing. I'm parked as imbalances. The cost of drugs in other countries. Where they purchase. National health plan in canada. Or where. Moral considerations are profit and. Marketing costs and development costs in providing cachivaches cocktails in in africa. Future of pricing. Multi-tiered globally. To some extent you it gets when it gets too far out of balance and get these problems lights okay. A drug is about 1 of what the average price paid. And everything else. Almost. Ahead. I think this is. You have to make it less profitable. To the price. As a public relations. What do you want to make any political prognostications about the medicare drug benefits. No. Not one of those fundamental. Healthcare insurance cost for employers in the country went up by somewhere in the range of 12 to 15%. You think that that's holding down the growth and job which is ben's legging in our economic growth. Employee. Example with surprise to me cuz i thought they were failures. Genomics columnist for the boston globe this morning has an article about the. Puerto rican aumix growth in the united states accompanied by the remark that the outsourcing is. Growing at an even more rapid pace. Then the economy seems to be. Hence the lack of sun. I think we're going to see. Racism huge issues about public policy and globalization. In the middle of this coming month there's going to be a national meeting in miami. With a good many protesters. Gathering around the bottom. The whole subject of creating a free-trade zone throughout the americas. Economic globalization. But i think you and i both recognize that there are some huge human vulnerability. Ordinary people whether there are ordinary employees and workers in the united states. Vulnerable populations in other countries or transitional. Support during this whole process. How should we be thinking about. The growth of free trade areas around the world. Propping up with the united states but i was reading about how china is negotiating a free-trade zone with all the southeast asia at the moment. Calu. That if i want to as economies. Lamp world trade organization negotiations in cancun came unglued because of the developing world countries objected to the way in which. Developed countries in europe the united states and japan cultural sector. Degree in place unfair count competitive burdens on the commodities coming from the developing countries. Some people think the wto has had it as an organization as a result of this do you have any pregnant occasions and stuff that. Step back from the picture and say well is what people trying to do. Better. Very complex products in the highly automated packaging. Labor and access to water and a lot of times because my my politicians don't want to tell you that we've given that one. It's the black dialogue can ever be inside. I'm just watching the world bank's for example which was severely criticized for his role in. Kind of boondoggle investments in developing country. Open itself up to a remarkable degree and really listen to the grassroots organizations and developing. Comfortis and two people who are concerned about the economic impact of globalization. Open dialogue with religious leaders for example. Enduring human value tissue. Doing that with the world trade organization. The people who are at the table there. Are almost entirely people who are charged by their governments with. Your efficiency. Bottomline aspects of economy's end who are not charged with paying attention to. Environmental or labor issues. Which was a major. I told you last time i was. I think american college. And not be exposed. App. Part of the dialogue. That's a very good point i think that one's here's more from a business leader some concerns about the anomalies that are building up in the economics of something lights of you know that uses the health care costs soaring week we heard a couple of weeks ago from gary bluestone the economist northeastern lets us when business leaders met with the governor here in the commonwealth the first thing that they were concerned with with affordable housing. Beacon for recruitment. Purposes because they see it as a damper on the economy longer-term thinking has got to come into play that's often tied with with values issues rather than just a. Economic models of. Bottom-line return. Policy issues that. Don't seem to get tucked in this regard are things like. Issues for the countries of the whole we're now piling up rather huge. Death. As the country. Couple of weeks ago we talked about a. A calculation that suggested that if this year's is the national deficit. Workout related the way corporations are required to calculate their budgets. We would be looking at the unfunded. Increase in social security obligations as well as the fact that we're sweet. Funded part of this year's. Operating deficit with funds from the social security trust fund. So that the actual national. Increase in deaths this year was over 800 billion dollars a very substantial amount of money. Deal about macroeconomic issues i'm sure. Tell me what you think are the consequences of our having. Run up our our deficits a sucker rapid rate. Established. You want to generate growth. We have a disproportionate cell. 1. Country. That we will continue to be. Current clock. I think we were at lunch. I was working it back down to a normal level. Modest amount of economic literacy suggest that we run a couple of red one is driving up the cost of money interest cost for people who are trying to buy houses in so many other things and for corporations trying to make investments. Because the government will be competing with private investments. Pilot death rates. But i would think that's our the value of our currency on legs on the global markets which has been. Taking of significance drops during the past year is also likely to continue to run to go down. Are those your expectations yes and left. And certainly your situation. Voice to do that. Running. The whole shift in the character of the american economy that we seem to be going through. Increasingly. Remind me of what has happened in. Countries with great economic success than even empire in the pan of just managing our capital. And it is making sure that it has the right to flow overseas and financialization. The economy best. History suggests is a little bit dangerous. Because if. Put the subject to things like. The drop in the value of the currency in the various speculative bubbles. We had a couple of pieces of news this week that had to do with against candles in. Capital markets in finances. Watson's public agencies pulling their money out of putnam investments what was your reaction to that gym. Well i think it's. Someone. Make them behave. It was. What's an off-the-books bonus system. That didn't everybody no one really noticed. Small investment. Has something happened. There was another piece of information news this week coming from russia where the government intervened in the. Stop the trading in the shares of one of the largest oil companies. In order to go after what they. Augusta is almost a billion dollars in unpaid taxes. But the other factors that seems to be going on there or is that. The plutocrat political activity. Sticking with a friend at dinner last night who said that his principal concern with the way in which. I'll be part of the kgb. Apparatchik who's the rounds of. President putin. Are not only shutting down political opposition but they did this in a way that's squeezed out. The concerns of minority investor in that. That company. And it seems to be an increasing problem that. It's hard for minority stakeholders were there in of a small is it. What did ariana's mutual funds. Or. Owning small steaks & company. How's the adult supervision. Is carried out. What are your thoughts about this. Baffle problem. We have a system with putnam. Boston university. Control into. Behavior of corporations in economics. Vigorously to the managers public pension funds. A particular lick your lips the state treasurer i believe here in the end in several other states in a good position to become the adult supervisors. Corporate animals. Public institution represent the average retiree. Other than. My daughter is rolled in that university endowment income. There is a depend heavily on tuition income and current fundraising. I would have some. Questions about whether my interest were being represented on there for the trustee. Boards are made up of people who have the heaviest. Economic power. And stick whether that's the world trade organization b u of a. A corporation. Phenomenon of the early 21st century. Communist. This is an idea that's heavily connected with the thought of alfred north whitehead philosophy theologians of the 20th century. And that we will create. Instead of having the king of france. What's good food. When you get those type of comments if you point out that's a pretty good-sized automatically. Wealth and power. And that's the only way to fix that long-term. Take back. From the capital and rebalance that relationship. Dice make a transition this last one from. Moving away from capital. I'd like i kept that gentleman from the first. Soon-to-be ordained venture capitalist economic revolutionary. Yes i actually have to comment. One regards the notion of investing all power and control in capitol. I forget the name of the economist but. Nobel prize awarded a decade or two ago. Prove that. The right. Marginal rate of return on capital. Meaning the amount of interest you should be able to. Is 0. Certainly not the way we seem to be going. Which is to say that end. And that means capitals outfit. That's. Works okay for capital because. Which means. Boston. Yes i did and it's hearts back to the very start of things when we were talking about healthcare and technology. In every other industry that i know of advances in technology has led to advances in worker productivity. Fewer workers to produce the same amount of good. Healthcare it's exactly the opposite. Princeton center. If you look at. Who's in an operating room operating on a single patient. At the beginning of the last century there might be a couple of people. 2 or 3. And very little technology. Now. An operating room has maybe a dozen people in it. And. Technologies mcintyre. Is there any way that we could possibly. Harvest some productivity gains in medicine from our technology instead of. Exact reverse. Yes. Provided by health care advanced economy. Society actually out-of-stock poverty. Better health. And education. I wear those things have been for. Ahead of other forms of investment ahead of capital. Other economic growth going on in china at the moment. Is in no small part. Cuz. Contrary. Libertarian economic theory. Basic things that we need to provide for our people. Parkwood rural healthcare. More something more resembling universal education. The groundwork. For enormous. Economic growth. And the productivity on the healthcare side. Absolutely. Always so i can hear over the. Current economic issues. More of our own economic literacy. During that session to sing to me of all around healthcare. About economic issues increasing our level of literacy about some of the most important issues that are going on in the use of power. In the world. Absolutely convinced. In our lives. With question. The proper use. Empower. Power resides. Geological property. It resides in me. And it is x band in the world all around us. God knows it's not uniformly. Sociological justification. For reflecting. Enduring human values. In relation. 2 current economic issues. Is right there. From my point of view. And are trying to do. Theological reflection. Power in the world. Other comments before we. Knock off here this morning. Eminem. Wymore job. 1 / 415. Mobile. That reminds me of. In the society are expected to sort of stay pure. By not being. Very well rewarded financially other excuses work undervaluing. At what amount to unpaid form similar things. With publix. Service. The citizen legislator for example a very modest remuneration. For meditating on issues of public policy but they ironic is that they become subject. Tremendous pressures from economic forces including the possibility personal corruption. Or as it having to be dependent on raising. I can come up with money. From other in order to arundel. Public affairs. Public offices. Are now open only to those who have access to their own considerable personal wealth. But unless you are prepared to put millions of dollars. Into your own electoral campaign. You have a relatively difficult time getting out of the block. And being your credit.. A candidate for public office this is horse begins to violate. Equal access to public office and sets up a kind of artificial aristocracy. Under our constitution. There were to be no titles of a nobleman. But we think he has a made millionaire. The functional equivalent. A title of a nobleman. And an extra. Rock route. More deeply concerning suicide. Economic matters. I get this. Well. Early couple things that i wanted to say. I'm going back to the whole notion of medical care and technology. One of the things that i serve bring from. My background electronica manufacturing. More complex. It would cost more. Quality. Go back to the card first. Statewide. When i think about that in terms of healthcare and i think about what we do with care. I think about the notion that we're not looking at the right problem. I will looking at 6 in people's illnesses rather than. How do we get the entire culture to figure out how to stay well get well and stay well. Obesity you know almost an epidemic. How do we get to fix that issue rather than talking about the drug companies and how much money they make. I'd rather just. Drug companies not. At the healthcare system today. United states. And 100,000 people a year die because of. Properly prescribed medications. And another hundred thousand die because of in-hospital infections. Something wrong there at that. One spot from today then the other thought was. From the notion of economic democracy. Interesting i really liked what he said about. Hearing the rip the residual risk. I wish i remember sitting in meetings every quarter at terradyne we're used to work. Cuz we have profit sharing. Well you know i used to turn to my friend is ben co co. Cuz it's. And it was an icon of fact i'm intrigued by that. Okay. In terms of power. Economic power power general. Who's going to decide. Like. I'm just. Always afraid of. I'm giving up the power to somebody else is going to decide whether it be. But i like the idea. Healthcare delivery today. Are people who are actually. Primary care doctor. I have a younger brother who happens to share the bordeaux. Group of about 350 primary. Seattle washington area. And the squeeze on there. Practices. That's been brought about by the combination of help does this crisis in hospital. By the hospitals and by the insurance. My brother in all of his partners. Wipe your butt the year before i only. Had to eat. Come and write a check. For $50,000. Out of their own funds. The kind of refloat their ability to stay as independent practitioners. Help medicine. Not unusual. That's the kind of phenomenon i think this will be very interesting to talk to. Really privileged to have him with us. Concord started. With the proceeds of his own entrepreneurship under of a company called robotics. Adventurer who holds a patent. In electronics is anti-technology. Spell has. Unconcerned for the public good. Done things like put on the air in new hampshire. During the last. Presidential primaries. Elder care. Appointed out how they were running way ahead about the capacity. People. Do right by their own parents. And raised the question. Are you going to ask your. The candidates for president. Who's going to pay for. How are we going to cope. With rising healthcare costs. I have actually gotten to see. Situation of eccentric. In action. 10 years ago. I was working in town with there were two companies and similar businesses that was an economic slowdown one business went the traditional model that again line workers off. Bright wesley sandra discontinuing their house. When's the bottle of we are going we're all in this together nobody got laid off for albany hours. Put their names on a list to give hours to people. Who would be more hurt by the taxi was helping the cause and so on. Would be prepared as the society of. To the very best of cutting-edge technology on every. Donut. In order to have greater distributive justice. Real moral dilemmas. That we face is the society in healthcare. And it's one that will pick up next week thank you so much for being part of the swarm.

uuneedham_org

20120715_hafer_unintelligent_design_sermon.mp3

Before i begin to thank you jeanette for that lovely introduction and thank all of you for being here. And i'm going to tell you a little bit about what intelligent design. Intelligent design is the idea that plants and animals must have been deliberately created. By an intelligent designer. This idea is not new and it's not science. However it is a political movement in this country and its proponents assert. That intelligent design and its predecessor creationism. They mastered that intelligent design is as valid a scientific theory as evolution by natural selection. This means that they are incest sometimes successfully that intelligent design must be taught in american public schools as science. In reality this is nothing more than an organized political attempt to get one particular religion talk to all americans at taxpayer expense. This is a threat to american religious pluralism and to the separation of church and state. As science of course it's rubbish however for both intelligent design and its predecessor creationism the stated goal is to win in the court of public opinion. So. A few years ago i realized something very important. I realize that this whole intelligent design a controversy as it is known. Is not a scientific issue at all but a political one. And this goes a long way toward explaining why intelligent design has gotten as far as it has. The problem is that scientists keep approaching it as though it were a scientific issue. So we make observations do experiments and write our papers showing repeatedly that all the evidence is in favor of evolution. Then we publish our papers in scientific journals where their read by other scientists. I think you see the problem here. Unfortunately most american citizens don't read scientific journals and they never will. That's why we have libraries full of evidence for evolution and most people don't know it. So doing more research won't make a difference. What will make a difference is treating this as the political issue that it really is. Political arguments are different. Political arguments must be short. Easy-to-understand memorable and preferably entertaining. In my case i want them to be true as well. Once i realized this i started looking for new approaches and inspiration finally hit me in the middle of an anatomy and physiology lecture when i was lecturing about reproductive system. And this is why my first argument against intelligent design in the human body is the male testicle. This brings me to the alternative title for this morning's sermon. You can read this for yourselves here you'll notice there's a subtle difference in the title here i realize that this was just the sort of thing i needed for a political style argument because once i started talking about men's testicles people would pay attention. So without further ado here are the problems with men's testicles. The testicles hang outside the body in a sack of skin called the scrotum. Why. Because human body temperature is too hot for sperm production. Having normal body temperature be too hot for sperm production. Is bad design. Tell the testicles have to hang outside the body in the scrotum thereby putting a vulnerable organ the in a vulnerable place. Putting a valuable and vulnerable organ in such a vulnerable location. Is bad design men are put to all sorts of inconvenience and risk severe pain on the worst because of this unfortunate positioning. One would think that god could do better. Here's a picture of how old is his put together. Yes you're seeing testicles in church on sunday. Here's a picture of how old this is put together. Notice how the testicles with their inability to be warm and productive at the same time hang outside while all the abdominal organs are safely tucked up inside out of harm's way. Our cold-blooded relatives don't have this problem and their sperm making equipment is safely inside them. If you don't believe me try to find the balls on a frog. You won't mention it unless you do a dissection. Here's a picture of a frog's insides. See the frog testicles are safe inside him where a vulnerable organ ought to be. Does this mean that the so-called creator likes frogs better than men. Or does it mean that is humans evolved the ones who had their balls hanging outside reproduced better. You decide. This brings me to my primary reason for why evolution explains the human body so much better than intelligent design does. The standards for evolution are much lower. The standard for systems that evolved is. Good enough to not cause death before reproduction at too much of the time. The standard for intelligent design is designed by an infallible creator. You can see the difference. Believe me as an anatomy and physiology professor evolution explains human anatomy far better than any notion of a good designer. Puppies are just too badly put-together to stand up to even reasonable design specifications much less infallible ones. Now while we're on the subject of bad designed here is a picture of a baby crowning. This is the part of childbirth where a baby's head has to fit through a circle of bone that is smaller than the head is. I've colored him the bony parts of the woman's pelvis here. There's a parts in red. It isn't a good fit. Here's a picture of the whole birthing sequence. Sb45 colored in the bone. You can see how the baby's head has to be squeezed pretty hard to fit through this bottleneck and as we all know in the old days this frequently killed. The woman. The baby or both. These days we often avoid the birth canal altogether and perform cesarean sections. These are being done in ever-increasing numbers. One would think that a benevolent creator would not make childbirth into such a problem in the first place. In fact. There are simple things that could have been done better. If only we had been designed rather than evolved. Let me explain. The main problem from a design standpoint is that we walk upright while being very smart. These two attributes have opposing requirements. Walking upright favors people with narrow hips. Which make walking much easier and more efficient. Being smart on the other hand requires large heads. Large pens require large birth canals. Large birth canals require wide hips. Now on why is creator could have solved his engineering problem easily. By doing something like. The baby develops outside the body of it bipedal mother in a nice comfy couch complete with a nipples for nursing. Animals like kangaroos give birth to very small embryo like young that are placed in a pocket on the outside of the mother's body. This is where they continue their development. That's the way to do it if you're going to be a biped. So. Why didn't the creator do that. For us. It's simple. We evolve rather than being design. Women's hips are narrow enough that they can walk because any woman who couldn't walk with died before she could reproduce in the natural environment. Most women's hips are wide enough on the other hand that children can be born. Most of the time. Uneasy compromise that doesn't work very well and he's very hard on some individuals. This was clearly not done by any intelligent creator. In fact. If this is the best that the creator can do then the creator has a lot of explaining to do. No i'll stop talking dirty to your for a while and i'll bring up choking instead. Here's a picture of the inside of the human throat. This is another example of really bad design. Our air passages and food passages meet and mix. Sometimes with fatal results. I've covered the parts where are gets inhaled in blue. I've colors the part where food gets ingested in red. The places where both food and ergo are at the mouth and then further back at the pharynx. Most of the time the air passing through the pharynx gets funneled into the windpipe or trachea. And most of the time the food and water passing through the pharynx gets funneled into the esophagus leading to the stomach. But not always. Sometimes food and water can wind up in the windpipe as anybody who has ever inhaled cracker crumbs can tell you. Sometimes larger pieces of food get into the windpipe this way and get stuck there blocking breathing. Here's what that looks like. In these cases if the heimlich maneuver or some other means of removing the blockage isn't performed very quickly then the victim will die of asphyxiation. There were hundreds of cases like this each year. Many of these result in the premature death of otherwise healthy people. A better design system would keep the tubes for food and air separate. To avoid unnecessary fatality. After all. It's been done in other animals. This is a picture of a whale spouting. The mist you see here is caused by exhalation of air from the whales blowhole. The blowhole is really its nostrils. Whales respiratory system is completely separate from its digestive system. This means that a whale unlike a human pants. Choke on its food by inhaling it. If god can do that for wales i don't know why god couldn't do that. For us. Now i want to get into an example that the intelligent design people use repeatedly hoping to show that human anatomy is so complicated and so perfect. That it couldn't possibly have evolve from anything simpler. The human eye. Intelligent design types like to ask. What good is half and i. Well i'm going to show you what good half an eye is as well as a quarter of an eye and 87 is a sixteenth of an eye and a whole lot less. I will also show you that there are creatures alive today that have those eyes and benefit from them. In fact it's clear that vision has evolved separately many times in the animal kingdom. And it's clear that some animals have eyes that are actually better than ours. Which leads us to the interesting question of who does the creator like better us or squid. But i'll get to that later. First. Let's start with the human eye. The more important features include the enclosed shake which only allows light in through a tiny opening at the front. The lynn's. The optic nerve and the light-sensitive retina at the back. The retina is the place where the cells that responds to light. The photoreceptors. Are located. The whole point behind having an eye is a photoreceptor cells. Everything else is just packaging. Here's a close-up of the retina. 1 odd feature of the human retina is this. The nerve fibers taking the information from the retina to the brain. Go in front of the photoreceptor. And blocked some of the light. But i'll get back to that later. Just please notice for now where those fibers are located. Now let's look at clowns. Here's a picture of an eye. It belongs to the bivalve maximus bivalves are all clams and their relatives. You'll see it has a lot of the same features as the human eye. The enclosed shape. The lens and the retina at the back with the wiring running in front of the photoreceptors. It looks a lot like ours. Now since this is the first slide let me walk you through this. Hear can you hear me. Okay. This is the enclosed shape. This is the lens. These little block like structures here and here and here. Those are all the photoreceptors the actual light sensitive areas. And these and these and these are the nerve fibers that then swing around and eventually bring that information. To the equivalent of the optic nerve. What that means is that light coming into the eye here's a pathway of the light. Passes through the lens. And then has to fight its way past these nerve fibers. To get to these photoreceptors and fight his way past all this. To get to the photoreceptors. Down here. That's a similar arrangement to what our eyes have. Now here's another i belonging to cardium musical. Another bivalve. It too has similar features to the human eye. But here we have tried akna maxima. Another by val. And look. In this case the wiring is behind the photoreceptors. This probably means that vision in this line evolve separately from that of the others. Now things start getting really interesting. Here's an answer to the question what good is half an eye. This is the pinhole eye belonging to limas formosa. Look. No lens. This is a much simpler structure. What is i still healthy animal to gather information about the world outside. Here's an example of even less of an eye. This belongs. Sorry this belongs to arca barbata another bivalve. And as you can see it's nothing more than a pet with a few photoreceptors at the back. Despite its obvious simplicity it is still a visual organs. It. Cease. That is it perceives light and send that information to the animals nervous system. It's a lot less than half a night and it works. Now keep in mind. All these animals are related. And they are all alive today. So at present all these eyes are out there doing the job that eyes do. Even though some of them are a half and i or a quarter of an eye or possibly even better eyes than ours. What they have in common. Is that their possessors are better off with them than without them. That's the mark of evolution. Not perfection. Just increased survival. Now. In case you thought all that diversity was limited to clams let me show you another lineup. Now you're looking at snail eyes. All these different eyes with all their degrees of complexity are owned by gastropods. Snails and their relatives. They are all much more related than any of it to one another they're all much more related to one another than any of them are related to us. Here again you can see eyes ranging from ones that are fully as complex as ours. Two eyes that are little more than pits with light receptors in them. Again. Bell work. Pay attention now. There is not a single stage in the evolutionary process in which animals have eyes but the eyes are too simple to work. This has been known by biologists for many decades. Why haven't the intelligent design people heard of all these. Animals. I suspect that it's because they spend a great deal of time advertising themselves and very little time studying zoology. Where all this information is freely available. So now we've addressed the issue of irreducible complexity. Let's move on to the whole notion that the human eye is so perfect that it must have been designed and buying infallible designer at that. I say that if indeed it was designed then the designer would get an app from any decent design class. Here's why our eyes are a case of bad design. Try to imagine a camera so poorly designed that the mechanical parts of the camera the wires and so on imagine if they were between the lens and the film or if you're doing digital photography than between the lens and the imaging chip. Imagine all those wires between the lens and the imaging chip so they left their shadows on all your pictures. Then imagine having to photoshop every one of these pictures in order to have usable images. Imagine further that all the wires are routed to straight. True that chip to the back of the camera. So that there is a permanent hole in the chip. Where there can be no image at all. This is the case with our eyes. This. Is bad design. The part of our eye that is sensitive to light. The part that is like that imaging chip in a camera. Is our retina. The first bit of bad design in our retina is that there are blood vessels sitting on the surface of the retina blocking the light. A decent designer could have put those blood vessels. Behind the retina. The second bit of bad design is that there are nerve fibers have also sit on the surface of the retina blocking even more light. These two could have been placed behind the retina. A bit of bad design is that these blood vessels and nerve fibers all need in one spot and go straight through the retina and into the optic nerve. This is like punching a hole right through the imaging chip itself. In a camera. It creates a part of our retina that is so clogged with all this paraphernalia that it cannot see at all. This is known as a blind spot or optic disc. If all of these blood vessels and nerve fibers had been properly placed behind the retina in the first place then this hole in our vision would not exist. Putting a preventable blind-spot into a visual system is not the sign of an infallible creator. Here's my proof in case you need it. You can find your own blind spot. Just take one of the handouts that were distributed along with your orders of service. And follow the directions i recommend not doing it now this can entertain you during coffee hour or tonight when you're trying to go to sleep. I'll move along right now as i said this can entertain you this evening sometime. Now let me show you pictures of why the blind spot exists. At the top you see a picture of your retina taken with an ophthalmoscope. Showing the blood vessels lying on top of the retina. Next on the lower rate is a diagram of your retina showing the nerves lying on top of the retina and blocking the light that should be going to the photoreceptors underneath. And finally on the lower left juicy blood vessels and nerve fibers diving through the retina to get to the optic nerve now again i'll walk you through this. Here you see the picture of your retina taken with the uptown the scope. It is looking straight into your eye to the back of your retina and you can see the blood vessels that are just lying there blocking the light. Down here. Everybody say this. Here is a diagram of the retina. Now here we have nerve fibers. Here we have some help ourselves. And all the way down here are the light-sensitive photoreceptors. The light the pathway is a light goes like this down down down. Pass the nerve fibers. Pasta help ourselves and finally it gets to the poor photoreceptors. Down here. So the light has to beat its way through all this other stuff. In order to get to the photoreceptors. And finally here you see those blood vessels in those nerve fibers diving straight through that yellow colored retina. To get to the optic nerve down here. That's what creates the blind spot. What all this means is that we need more light to see with than we would if our eyes had been designed properly. It also means that our nervous system receives poor-quality visual information which then has to be processed several times before it becomes a usable image. If this were a camera this would mean producing multiple pictures from the imaging chip that has all of the shadows from the wires and on it and the whole going right through it. Photoshopping all of them. And then combining multiple images until you get one usable image that more or less represents reality but information has been lost. This is a cumbersome imperfect process. For supposedly infallible creator. To have come up with. One would think that god could do better. And god did it. Here is a picture of god's favorite. It's a cuttlefish. It and its relatives squid and octopus have eyes with retinas that are built far better than ours. Stacie becker. Farther and in dimmer light than we do. They can also see polarized light which we can't see it all. So. Does this designer like cuttlefish better than humans. Now take a look. At that beautiful i. So much like ours but wired so much better. And then look at these drawings. These are diagrams of the human eye and the cephalopod eye. Cuttlefish are a type of cephalopod. They don't have backbones. Notice how the wiring that takes the visual information from the photoreceptors to the optic nerve. Is located behind the photoreceptors in cephalopods. But between the photoreceptors and the light in humans. As i said earlier. This is like having the wiring for a camera placed between the lens and the imaging chip. It makes no sense if our eyes had been designed. But from an evolutionary standpoint it makes sense because it works well enough. And it does more good than harm. However. I should point out that standards for evolve features can go even lower than that. Sometimes the only standard that they made is that they don't kill us before we reproduce. Too often. Let's move onto one of our least desirable features. The human appendix. Here it is the human appendix or the vermiform appendix if you're a scientist. Part of our digestive system and it's particularly odd because it doesn't actually digest anything. In fact it doesn't do anything useful. Even grey's anatomy calls it a function list organ and grey's anatomy is not known for its sense of humor. Having an organ that performs no particular function. Is bad design. The appendix is a blind fact in which bacteria grow. In fact it is a blind sac off of another blind fat called the cecum. A blind sac off of a blind sac is the perfect place for a bacterial colony. In rabbits and other creatures that digest woody plants. The bacterial colonies that grow in the cecum independents can help the animal to digest what. Humans don't digest. What. We have the organs for it but they don't work. Having an organ in humans that works best in rabbits. Is bad design. Unfortunately the appendix is still a great place for bacteria to breed. So every now and then a colony of really nasty bacteria gets going in the human appendix. When this happens the appendix gets a lethal infection called appendicitis. And it must be surgically removed. If it is not removed the person dies. Having an organ that performs no particular function and occasionally kills you he is really bad design. Each year 500,000 people in the united states suffer from appendicitis. And the days before decent surgical techniques. People died regularly from infected appendices. Since the appendix performs no valuable function in humans and it's only affect an existing is to occasionally kill us kill us at any age for no reason it's not clear why and infallible creator would give us one. It is also hard to see why a creator making us in his image would give us an organ that works best in rabbits. However. Seen through the lens of evolution the appendix is easier to comprehend. It's a vestigial organ. That is. Sometime in our past the appendix performed a useful function. And a functionalist trace of that old previously useful appendix. Is still with us today because it's not detrimental enough to kill us before childbirth. Most of the time. This is also the reason why we still have tails. We don't use them but our ancestors did and a little trace of a tale is still with us. This is also why we have gills with during prenatal development. Again we don't use gills but somewhere in our ancestry some animal did and that little functionalist race is still with us. In case you don't believe me. I have pictures. Hear you're looking at an adult. Female human pelvis. You're looking at the left hand side. The bones on the right of this photograph are the last two bones of the spinal column. They're called the sacrum and the coccyx. It's a tail. And here. We have stages of embryonic development in various different species. We all go through the same stages including. The gill slits stage. So this explains why an appendix can exist. In an evolved animal but shouldn't. In a well-designed one. 1 textbook i found however offered an alternative explanation. You can read this for yourselves. I'm not joking i really found this in a textbook. So perhaps god-like surgeons best. So there you have it. I've given you five simple examples of how the human body is badly designed. I could have chosen the hundreds. If i had looked at the rest of nature i could have chosen thousands. But now i want to talk about beauty. I want to point out that the human body is actually wonderful it's just that is wonderful in the weird crazy way that evolved systems are wonderful rather than being wonderful in the careful mathematical way that design systems are. There's real beauty here. But not design. I think that our bodies are beautiful the way they are regardless of their imperfections. But i also think that there is real beauty in our ability to think. Do research and really understand the world we live in rather than just making up stories. This capacity allows us to understand atoms and molecules that we can't even see. And principles we can't see that allow airplanes to fly. Electrons we can't see that light up electric light bulbs and yes. Evolution. Which often takes eons to occur so no one human being can see it working but we understand it and we can make successful predictions based on it. So we know it's there. Intelligent design does not make predictions. Evolutionary theory.. The evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria can only be understood by evolutionary theory. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are now killing people we used to be able to cure. I fear having public health officials who don't believe in evolution. Ecology. Which is the interplay between different plants and animals and their environment. Can only be understood if you understand evolution. I fear having environmental policy made by people who don't believe. In evolution. I realize they didn't making my presentation to this audience i am probably preaching to the choir. But there were times when this is exactly the right thing to do. Remember. This is a political argument. In fact. My main hope for my sermon this morning is that i've given you. The choir. Some great new songs to sing. And my final take-home message on this. Is. Evolution is the greatest. Indisputably true. Story ever told. Thank you.

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20120923_crane_teshuva_sermon.mp3

A dear friend and colleague rabbi boaz holloman. At congregation b'nai torah in sudbury. Once wrote this about the days of all. He said this is the time. When jews make a reconnection with their people. Their culture. And their jewish identity. He speaks of teshuva. Often translated as repentance or. Sometimes as atonement. 80s says that the root word in hebrew actually means. Returning. Returning in the sense of reconciliation. A returning in the sense of coming home to our deepest self. In judaism he explained righteousness is achieved by following the right path. To sin is to miss the mark. Like an arrow that goes astray. Therefore teshuvah means returning to the right path. It's a time to examine your heart. To make a mess. And begin again. In a book entitled to be a jew. Rabbi haim holivud dhania explains that. Teshuvah. Is also a returning to faith. A calling back. To the essence about what we care about most deeply. He says teshuvah can be a long journey or a short one. It is always. A significant act. For jews. Every sabbath. Is the day for returning to one's commitment to the journey. And the high holy days are a special time that jews set aside for repentance. And atonement. Malaika are jewish family friends and neighbors. Everyone here at first parish in needham is also beginning again. Because for us this is the beginning of a new program year. The annual start of a new cycle in the life of this congregation. And so like rabbi heilmann i invite you to return. Teshuvah. Come home people he says. There's plenty of room around the table. And nourishment. That will warm up your whole being. Teshuvah. Returning as homecoming. Come home to your spirit. In this. Sabbath h at the beginning of this. New year. Come home to your first parish community. This place to be nourished. To be together. This place. We're all of us get to practice what it means to be human. Displace. Where we can be exactly who we are. Where in fact. We can just. Be. Now. I do not pretend to be a jewish scholar or teacher nor do i have any direct. Jewish experience. So for those of you who know much more than i do please forgive me. Because my understanding may seem simplistic to those of you who know and watch more but. I dare to borrow this concept. For today because it speaks to me deeply. Because for me. Returning each week for a sabbath time out of time. Means. Tending my soul. And belonging to a community like this one keeps me accountable to my deepest self. And encourages me to keep returning every time i stray. Keep returning to my right path. Teshuvah. Returning as self-examination. As you know first parish in needham is beginning again in another way this year. You are beginning a two-year commitment to live. In the interim. Like the 10 days of awe. This interim is designed is it designated time. Set aside for calling you back you the congregation. You the present congregation who stands on the shoulders of all who went before. Calling you back to the essence of who you are. And what you care about most deeply. You might think of these two years as a time to attend to your congregational soul. At the time of self-examination. A time to reconnect. Which is congregations rich history. Identity. And culture. It's possible that you might find there. A few things that. You don't want to take with you into the future. That would be helpful. To know. Because right now. In the interim you are charting the right path. For this congregations future. You are returning. Coming home to. Coming back to. What matters most. The prayer that you said together with christian. Is a jewish prayer. Often said at this time of year. Teshuvah as a time to forgive ourselves and each other. And begin again in love. Everytime i hear that line i think. Sometimes. For me anyway. It's harder to forgive myself. Then it is to forgive others. It's hard. To accept that i made a mistake. As mark said. It's hard. To say i'm sorry. But only then. Can the burden be lifted. And you can begin again in love. So as a time to forgive. Teshuvah is a time of atonement. And unlike are jewish and christian counterparts. Or even those of us who follow follow bill w 12 steps. We unitarian-universalist do not have. A designated time or a particular ritual set aside. To take our personal inventory and make amends. And yet i doubt if there's anyone here. Who doesn't realize how important it is. To be accountable to ourselves and to one another. For our actions. Or the absence of them. Are universalist forbear hosea ballou preached one of his most famous sermons on this topic. I'm grossly oversimplifying here but in short. He said. Atonement. Leads to at-one-ment. Atonement. Leads to at. One moment. Returning to write relationship with ourselves. And our god. The way i see it. Forgiving is that the heart. Of this notion of t'shuvah. Returning. We cannot return to our truest and best cells until we have experienced. The transformation that begins with atonement. I'm sorry. And. Transform into at-one-ment. I am whole. I have returned to my best self. One of my colleagues the reverend barbara davenport. Was taken with a book called forgiveness. How to make peace with your past and get on with your life. She said she. Found it so useful that even after she preached about it she wasn't done with the topic. And she developed a workshop. In the workshop she begins by lifting or getting the group to list. All the things forgiveness is not. Here's just. The shortlist. Forgiveness is not erasing. Forgiving does not undo what happened. And it's not condoning. Forgiving people who hurt us we are not saying that one what was done is acceptable. Or. Unimportant. Forgiveness is not absolving. We are not forgiving actions. The person we are forgiving is still responsible for what she or he did and must make. Is there her own peace with the past. Forgiveness is not self-sacrificing. We do not forgive as a way to grin and barrett or make nice. Or tolerate people who hurt us. Forgiveness is not resolving. When we say i'm sorry that's not the end it's. The beginning. Forgiveness especially forgiving ourselves is a process that happens naturally. As a result of confronting a painful past. Those old experiences. And healing. Those old wounds. And finally. In this list anyway. Forgiveness is not behaving in a certain way. No one can prescribe a set of behaviors. That yield forgiveness you do one then two then three and so on. In fact. And this is the most important part. Forgiveness is not about behaviors that all. It's about. A change in our attitude. Okay so she's gotten the group listing all the things getting off their chest all the things that forgiveness is not because we do get hung up in that forgiving forget mode i can't forgive because it was unforgivable i can't forget. So she gets that out on the table and then. She asked the group what's forgiveness is if it's not that what is it. And here are some of the answers. Forgiveness is ongoing healing. And it's an internal process. Forgiveness. Is an unadorned gift. Forgiveness. Is letting go. Forgiveness is the inner peace that comes when we finally stopped trying to get ethan. Forgiveness is accepting. Freeing. And ultimately. Moving on. Which is to say. Returning. To that essence. Of who we are. At 1. So teshuvah is a kind of returning. For renewal. It's not merely a time for rejecting past behaviors. But also for doing something in an entirely new way. We are being call. And called back. To our faith. Enter the route to respond to that call i believe. Means making a commitment to our own spiritual growth. Both as individuals. And. As a congregation. I believe. Our faith. Our unitarian universalist faith. You're very personal. Demands. That we respond. Each day. Azdoc hummer sold said. Each morning we must. Home out the chalice of our being. To receive. To carry. And to give back. That's the light in you. Hold it out each day. To receive. To carry. To give. Each day. Is a day. Ford suv. Returning. Beginning again knowing that we are called to save lives. Starting. With our own. Let's sing the closing hymn number 86. Blessed spirit of my life.

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20110320_on_taking_life_seriously_molly_sermon.mp3

This has been quite a week for revelry. To balmy sunny days had some of the first flowers of spring out. Along with many winter we refocus the boston area already to celebrate sunshine and warmth. And white goes to glorious day. Thursday. Found many myself included celebrating the beginning of basketball fever. With the ncaa tournaments and many others. Celebrating that irish holiday that i believe. Commemorates the invention of guinness. And today marks the beginning of the jewish holiday of purim. When the rabbis teach that we art supply ourselves with wine the saying goes until we can no longer tell the difference between the phrase cursive b hamid and blessed be mordecai. Revelry abounds. But then it has also been quite a week for tragedy. Thousands dead and the threat of nuclear meltdown in japan. Civilian deaths in libya yemen. Syria and bahrain. As repressive dictators and governments. Picture silence resistance voices. This is no rational thought. But the earthquake. Curtis gives me the feeling that the earth is trying to shake us off. Human violence makes me think she might have good reason. Every morning i start my day was going to the news and when you start the day with news like that no side is the right side of the bed. So tragedy about. As well. And so it is. And so it always has been. Always there is morning and sorrow and death. Always there is celebration and joy and new life. And when we begin to wonder how both can exist at once. We encounter weeks like this. Reminding us pictures do. I roll out of bed and a cloud of bad news. And then i start my day and outside there are the season's first crocuses coming up in the yard. Tonight is the spring equinox when the great view of stars shift. A night-and-day time are perfectly balanced. I've done some reading about pagan celebrations of the equinoxes and what strikes me is if they don't usually just celebrate the increase of the light. Rather they celebrate the return of balance. Acknowledging that light requires dark. And vice versa. The prayer is almost always for balance. Always thought we might have both in equal measure. And equanimity and encountering them. Equanimity because the equinoxes only comes twice a year and balance between the light and the dark in our lives is almost always hard to find. Because as joan didion puts it life changes fast life changes in an instant. You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends. Or in the language of the book of esther. I'm a mere whim of a king the jews of persia saw their whole world turned upside down and back again. Grief turned into joy a day of mourning into a day of celebration. If the story of purim teaches nothing else it teaches of the reversibility of fortune. The unpredictability of life. The hebrew word for purim. Is the plural form of poor which means locked. And in the story hayman essentially cast lots to determine that use phase. Oshkosh makes decisions about genocide seemingly on a whim. An ester success and intervening. Indeed her life itself. Is never guaranteed. In the entire book of esther it seems that the luck of the draw prevails. And on purim. As they commemorate that storage use are called too deeply encounter the extent to which life is dramatically and inescapably unpredictable. 4 m is a joyous holiday. One of celebration and revelry. The rabbi sharon rouse rights of purim we wear costumes that simultaneously mask who we are and reveal the part of ourselves we work all year to hide. We eat. Drink. Dance and laugh in the face of our darkest fears. The possibility that human life and human history can change on a dime. But everything we know to be true could be a farce that everything we loved might disappear and an instance. It is an exercise in radical spiritual destabilization. And the response is the closest to carpe diem. One day a year when are otherwise exacting tradition understand that sometimes drunken revelry is the only reasonable response. Two desperate phone or ability. Sometimes referee. Drunken or not. Is the only reasonable response. Two desperate phone or ability. In a place of spiritual destabilization we can laugh away any illusion that we were ever in control. And maybe we can laugh ourselves. Interesting moment of acceptance. Even of gratitude for life. Which is both amazing and ridiculous. But always deadly serious. For the story of poor amanda traditions surrounding it call us to take our lives seriously. But ourselves. Slightly. To me this means that we must be open to all that life contains. So we must have deeply engage with life. But that means being flexible with our idea of ourselves. Because life is always changing and we must change with it. Extra took her religion and the life of her people very seriously. I meant taking on some ludacris. And even dangerous trolls. Beauty pageant contestants. You in disguise. Queen. Chavala salon impetuous king. At its heart for another holiday that celebrates the deliverance. The deliverance by chance of an entire people from annihilation. Innocence. What it teaches us in the face of that is equanimity. Imagine it saying this is heavy stuff. Just roll with it. Try to dance and enjoy while you're at it. Get prank calls for more than just revelry according to the tradition. It also requires people to give each other gifts. And to give generously to the poor. Putting grab eyebrows again. This mitzvah given. Acknowledges our lack of control over our destinies. Give generously today. For tomorrow it could be you begging for spare change. Give because you know in your heart it is only an accident of history that you are here and the poor are there. Give because it would be intellectually and morally corrupt. To tell the story of our people's miraculous triumph. To celebrate histories reversibility without sharing our bounty. With those who now sit on the other side of fortune. Actually recently met somebody who answers this call i think well. The call to give generously today the call to take life seriously and himself lightly. Steve. He's a tall thin man with an open expression and laughter always in his eyes. Steve started volunteering at soup kitchens when he was in his twenties. He likes the work and he loves meeting people. He was living in new york city at the time working in finance. And he knew because he stopped proof everyday that so many others didn't have it quite so good as him. So he works at the kitchen's sometimes just on the weekends sometimes even on his lunch break. Steve is the kind of person who gives you all his attention when you talk to him. He makes you feel like you were the only person in the room. And he gives that attention to every single person he serve. A couple of years ago when the financial bubble burst. He lost his job in finance. And he couldn't find another one. So what did he do he increased his hours at the soup kitchen volunteer. My path crossed steve last month on our youth group service trip to new york city. But i didn't meet steve at the fellow volunteer. Steve is now the director of the largest soup kitchen in new york city serving over 1,000 hungry new yorkers everyday. It's a facility with hundreds of devoted volunteers were a pianist sets the mood while the gas is there free hot lunches. Where the where are you screwed volunteers for instruction. Esurance mi. And. Stickr.co welcome. Steve rent the finances and the logistics but mostly he just shows up. He knows many of the guests by name and he treats them like buddies. With an easy respectful humor. Are you stall loved eve. Enlarged heart i think because he engages so deeply with life. He cares about people. He wants to help. But he has no pretensions about what that helps will look like. Life hasn't been what he expected these told me. But what better work could he be doing. He said with a shrug. We have to engage with life the good the bad the unexpected. There's no alternative. But we do it best with humility. We do it fast with gratitude. Taking the fullness of life seriously and our own changing place in it lightly. Slice can always use a swell. Have to add i think rtus know this. I learned so much from them constantly in my work as use advisor. But these yearly service trips are so incredible. They are so in it. So engaged. They want to see and feel and hear and experience as much as they can. They want. To be transformed by the experience. They want to be changed by the seriousness of life. And so they are. And it hardly matters how they're doing it. Do you want them to scrape paint off of a board. Consider it done. You want them to wash the dishes. My answer is. And perhaps that's because they haven't quite settled on one yet. But they don't let us. static vision of themselves. Stand in the way of letting life use them well. I think we could learn from that. He could learn. To let life change off. In the words that the poet rilke imagine spoken by god. Let everything happen to you. Beauty and terror. Just keep going. Nearby is the country they call life. You will know it by its seriousness. Give me your hands.

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20101121_mark_twain_sunday_john_sermon.mp3

Mark twain was born 175 years ago this very month. And 50 years later he published the adventures of huckleberry finn from which molly told us that great story of huck and the runaway slave jim. A book that made fun. Of society. And it's wrong like tolerating slavery told the story of a boy in language that the boy mount used. While looking at society. And seeing how one spirit. Even though his elders told them it was all just right. Along with books like little women and uncle tom's cabin in moby-dick. Huckleberry finn which good became one of the first great and totally american. Novels. And mark twain was nothing if not totally american and 1/2 make fun. Of our country's imperfections. One thanksgiving when he was already a famous writer and was touring around europe. Speaking in promoting his books. And he wrote a very funny piece back to america. But it certainly wasn't roast turkey. Or cranberry sauce. Or stuffing and pumpkin pie. That was the years when this building where we are now gathered was being picked up and put on log rollers and pulled by horses across needham. From its original location to miles away and plunk down. Right here i'll process that started right after thanksgiving. He said he believed in god all right. But god that most americans found in their bibles. And that his father had felt the same way his uncle john is mother's brother. Was the universalist. And what's wayne complained about was that most people. Found a god in the bible who as he put it mouthful of injustice yet who invented hell. He also didn't think a whole lot about. Heaven. At least the way it was described by most people as a sort of endless church service. Don't worry this one's going to be over in a little while. And when asked which place you wanted to go to heaven or hell would reply i don't want to express an opinion i have friends in both places. His conclusion was that heaven had the better reputation for its climate. But he'll for interesting people to talk to. What to make fun of people. Who thinks that they can get to heaven by fighting crusades. 2 take away somebody else's holy land from them and some of his humor was pretty. In which he makes fun of a minister praying and time of war lord our god help our soldiers tear their soldiers to bloody shreds. To cover the fields. With a pale forms of their patriot dead still they waste their humble homes and wring the hearts. Of their unoffending widows with unavailing grease and turn them out ruthless with little children to wander and rags and hunger and thirst. Unquote. Naturally some people didn't find this very funny at all. Because. Wayne was. Always making fun. A people who first say one thing. And then go out and do. Another. The gospel of peace he wrote is always making good deal of noise with its mouth. But during the past generation the christian poor have been taxed almost to starvation point to support the giant armaments. Which they're supposedly christian governments have built up. Each to protect itself from its equally christian neighbors. And incidentally to snatch any patch of real estate left exposed by non-christian owners. Fun quote. A pretty accurate description that seems to me of history in twain's lifetime. Which coincided with. Western powers both european and american. Going around the world. Snatching colonies. By force. 5 years before he died in 1905 twain was interviewed by a reporter about thanksgiving. Every year every person in america he said his invited to concentrate all his or her thought on the many reasons to be thankful. T'god. For the blessings conferred upon us and upon the human race. During the previous 12 months. This is all well. But it's too one-sided. No one ever seems to think of god side of it. No one ever asks what we humans have done or not done. To make god's thankful. Or regretful. For having given us the blessing of life in the first places and so much more. No one has had the good feeling enough to wish that god might have a happy thanksgiving day. And there's nothing right about this he said. If you have complaints about how life is been going for you and yours. You suppose everything has gone to god this past year. Back in 1905 he pointed out that god might not be too grateful. To see human beings doing well in russia christians were persecuting and killing their neighbors just for being used. Might not be too happy to learn that in new york insurance companies have been found to be cheating widows and orphans. Or in the belgian congo to see white colonial masters sent by king leopold of belgium. Killing almost 100,000 black africans. By forcing them into brutal force flavor. So before we sit down to count our own blessings and gives thanks. Said twain. Maybe we americans. Go to ask ourselves. What we're going to do. Ourselves. To make a little more thankful. For what goes on. Here on earth. Especially. In this lab. Among the most blessed on the planet. Especially. People. Among the freest. And most privileged. Which brings us back to that message this leslie brought us today. About the work. Of those who struggle for human rights injustice around the world. The work of people like. Those in our unitarian universalist service committee. Their partners overseas. About what we can do when we invite really a guest into our table. To our table. And into our hearts for thanksgiving. And all the evenings between now and the new year. I know for some of you things may have been tarred. This past year. Things are not quite what we would like here in america. And yet we still have so much to be grateful for. And we have sisters and brothers fellow human beings and children of gods all around the world. With harder lives than our own. People whose basic rights to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Are all too often being denied. People who need our support in the struggle just to get access to clean water for example. Clean water to drink. People. Struggling for human rights after. Disasters like the earthquake in haiti. The floods in pakistan. Who need our support in the struggle for economic justice in the living wage. Who need our support in the struggle for civil liberties. Under democratic governments. Mark twain died a hundred years ago. I think the chief goal of his humor. And his writing. In his life that makes him so memorable. What city was trying to get up. What are pretensions. Be a bit more grateful yes for the gift of life but also more self-aware. More aware of the blessings of the creation itself. Grateful for it. And therefore responsible to the earth. Grateful for the network codes. Human connection. It sustains us in life. And therefore more generous and compassionate. Grateful to a god who is greater. Then any one religion or nation. He didn't much like official ministers in churches who thought they owned. Because he thought that all human beings. Should have a ministry. One to another. And even perhaps. Call ministry. To the mystery that made us all. And that's why he loved the music make when they worship. The old spiritual. The old scotch-irish gym tunes. Because they make joy and affirmation even out of human sorrow and suffering. They turn us. Ford ministry. One to another. Into the mystery. That made us all. They wake us up.

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20141207_cherries_catie_sermon.mp3

I'm of the opinion that the bible is desperately lacking in adjectives and adverbs. Listen again to marry story. The angel came to mary and said greetings favored one. The lord is with you. But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her do not be afraid mary. You will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you will name him jesus. Then mary said here i am the servant of god let it be with me according to your word. The only adjectives we get our favored perplexed and afraid no adverbs at all. The narrator doesn't say that marries afraid the angel does and who knows if that angel has strong interpersonal intuition. But yes i imagine that i would feel at least perplexed and afraid in such a situation. But is that all. Mary's engaged to be married and the angel tells her she will bear god's child. Was she ever worried. She says here i am the servant of god did she feel honored. Accepting resigned. When mary said all of these things did her voice shake. Or was it gold. Joseph story is also sorely lacking in adjectives and adverbs. Joseph being a righteous man and unwilling to expose mary to public disgrace plan to dismiss her quiet. But just when he had resolved to do this an angel of the lord appeared to him in a dream and said joseph do not be afraid to take mary as your wife. For the child conceived in her is from the holy spirit. And when joseph awoke from sleep. He did as the angel of the lord commanded him. He took her as his wife. This time we get righteous unwilling. Quietly. We don't know if joseph was mad shocked confused. Nothing about his emotional life. Some scholars say that the lack of descriptors in the bible allows us to find ourselves in the stories. Instead of being told how mary or joseph reacted to the surprise pregnancy the perceived betrayal the breach in relationship. The lack of descriptors in their stories allows us to explore our own feelings. And imagine ourselves in their place. On this advent sunday when we remember the peace that we are waiting for i am reminded of mary and joseph difficult start to their marriage. Amazing that they were able to restore the peace between them after such a surprise. Maybe they have something to teach us about how to mend our familial relationships even 2000 years later. So what do we know about the context of this story. As far as we know joseph was a carpenter. And mary was to be a stay-at-home mom. A working-class family. In many ways they seem unexceptional for their time or for ours. When the gospel say that mary and joseph were engaged it meant that they had already exchanged their marriage vows their covenants their ketubah. With one another. They were just waiting for the two families to have enough resources to throw the big party. To christian scholars agree that joseph could have been much harsher in his reaction to mary's mysterious pregnancy. If you assume that she had been unfaithful to their engagements. By the laws of the book of deuteronomy he could have had mary and whatever man impregnated her stoned to death. Instead he gave her the benefit of the doubt and assume she had survived a sexual violence. Following the ancient jewish custom he does plan to divorce her. Quietly. Perhaps in our modern times this would not be considered the most compassionate response but for joseph. Time. It was far better than other common options. But as much as joseph was having a difficult time mary was certainly in a much tougher spots. She was socially vulnerable. It was a sin to break fidelity in an engagement. The angel and god had asked her to break a religious taboo. To bring a profit into the world. As biblical scholar amy-jill levine writes the divine plan moves in ways that contravene traditional family values. Well mary felt assured of her decision it would mean anyone else would believe her or still love her. If joseph sent her home her family may have rejected her. There may have been nowhere for her and her baby to go. Sometimes in our own family fights we are the people who are being authentic and perhaps a little controversial. Sometimes in our family fights we are the ones who need to shake off the customs of our culture. And love that person anyway. Mary and joseph had come to an impasse a crossroads in their relationship. They had to decide whether they still trusted each other. What do they stay together. They were like everyone else. Imperfect. Get striving to do the right thing. This is whereas biblical scholars suggest we insert ourselves. Assume correctly that some of us here today occasionally fight with our family members perhaps especially around the holidays. You don't have to admit it if they're still in town. Mary and joseph old story gives us some guidance. About covenants. About broken covenants. In about repairing covenants. First their story teaches us about covenants. Marital covenant is the first thing we learn about mary and joseph and their stories. The angel gabriel was sent by god to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was joseph. And. The birth of jesus took place in this way when his mother mary had been engaged to joseph. We know from the very start that their relationship is coming until. It's impossible for us to keep or make peace in our relationships if we don't even know what promises were supposed to uphold. It's important for us to know what behaviors and attitudes are appreciated and expected from our family members. This covenant all part of our unitarian universalist theology is one of the many practical things. We can take from church and apply to all our relationships. And you don't have to go through a year-long process with your family members to make a covenant. We only do that here at church when the family is over 300 people. If emilio covenant can be informal. It can include generalities like we take care of each other's emotional and material needs. Anna can include specifics. Like i'll stay with you if you're crying or i'll always bring the latkes and cook them to grandma specifications. What covenants and promises do you keep. In your family's. And what emotions do you associate. With the practice. Of those covenants. Second. Their story teaches us about broken covenant. Why would mary why would joseph consider dismissing mary just over a mysterious pregnancy. It's safe to assume that mary and joseph voucher remain sexually faithful to one another in their vows. One must imagine that when the covenant was broken. Some there was some reaction. Some arguments. Perhaps some fight that broke out. Joseph had a choice. Whether to stay in the relationship. Or to leave. Making such a decision in the wake of a breached covenant is particularly difficult. Because contrary to the biblical narratives description we end up having a lot of emotions about our broken familial covenants. Sometimes when a covenant is broken. Someone gets mad. The christmas carol the cherry tree what you have in your bolton as the opening quotation and which will hear is our anthem today. Imagines such a scenario. Mary said to joseph so meek and so mild. Joseph karim gather me some cherries. For i am with child. Then joseph flu in anger in anger flu he. Let the father of the baby. Gather cherries for the. What a way to find out. Joseph darling i'm pregnant so could you get me a few of those cherries i'm eating for two over here. I could imagine how joseph could get a little heated. Sometimes when a covenant is broken someone will use the silent treatment. Maybe like poet linda fast and family member when joseph found out about the pregnancy he became a monument to silence. Standing so upright so unforgiving his mute back deflecting every word. She said. Or maybe joseph started airing old grievances or maybe he pretended to be fine and stuffed his feelings down only to have them erupts later or maybe he called mary cruel names. Each of us as we grew up. Learned a different way to fight. Unitarian universalist religious educator reverend colleen mcdonald's rights we learn a great deal about interpersonal tensions and disagreements by observing the example of the adults in our homes. Is conflict loud and aggressive. Or something that simmers under the surface. Our feelings listen to or ignored. Do conflicts result in power struggles that end with a winner and a loser. Or a conflict resolved. Through negotiation and given take. The lessons about conflicts that we take away from our childhood follow us. And we may subconsciously repeat the patterns and strategies we learned in our families of origin. Do you remember. In your childhood family what happened. When the covenants or the promise. Was broken. Have you ever exhibited that pattern. Whether or not. It was healthy. Third. Mary and joseph story has. Teachings for us about restoring broken covenants. As unitarian universalist minister reverend victoria stafford writes a covenant is a living breathing aspiration made new everyday. It can be and it can't be enforced by consequences but it may be reinforced by forgiveness. And by grace. When we stumble. When we forget. When we mess up. Covenants unlike contracts are expected to fail sometimes. Through forgiveness and healthy methods of arguing we have hope to restore our relationships. We hope to return to a place where we are happy to gather some cherries for our beloved one. Almost as miraculously as mary's pregnancy the couple did stay together. Joseph took her as his wife and jesus on as his own son. This is a charge to us to try and repair broken relationships of our own. How did they do it. Do you remember. How did mary and joseph go from confusion shock anger. The sticking together. They reached out for help. Stitching up broken covenant is not easy work especially when it's with someone you're actively upset with. Mary and joseph accepted the advice. Of an angelic visitor. And this is a little plug for first parishes pastoral care program. Anyone who is having a tough time with a family member especially now at the holidays when stress and expectations are high. Anyone is welcome to reach out to me anyone else on staff. For one of our pastoral care associates. We're here to help. And to listen. But this is only one of many ways that one can repair a broken covenants. If you are like me sometimes you forget that there are different healthier better ways to approach a broken covenants then the usual way. Sometimes we may think to ourselves there's another way to fight then the silent treatment then screaming at each other. What else is out there. Unitarian universalist religious educators reference pad horns or four and lynn unger right there are certain fighting fair rules and trying out one of these may be the start of unlearning unhealthy practices from our childhoods. There were mac recommend that we gently share how we feel. Using the word i more than the word you. And pointing out her full but havior instead of irredeemable irredeemable personality traits. They recommend that we listen generously and respectfully acknowledging that our family member has feelings they too need to share and it compromised not concession for either person is the goal. And they recommend taking short breaks from the conversation when needed. Even mary ended up spending the first couple months of her pregnancy visiting her cousin elizabeth. But we strive to always return to the conversation. The rebuilding of the covenant. As mormon television producer troy dunn once roads. Time heals almost no wounds. What heals a wound is good treatments. That doesn't come from sitting there waiting. People 15 years later can recite with incredible accuracy the words that wounded them. The only way is to replace them. With new words. And those new words should be gentle. Should be respectful. Generous. Affirming. Those are some good adjectives for fixing up a broken covenant. What might you try first. If a dispute breaks out. This holiday season. What might you do know about an old family arguments. That has been left. Festering. Misses a lot from just one old story but that's why many of these old stories stay alive in our culture. Mary and joseph who narrowly avoided separation two millennia ago have a great deal to teach us about making covenants. Reacting to broken covenants. And repairing covenants. Our goal is unitarian universalist to believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person is always to restore a broken covenant. Sometimes that's not possible. Because the other person is not willing or able to engage with us and healthy dialogue. But we try. Until it's necessary to protect our own inherent worth and dignity. And with enough practice at home and a church in mending personal relationships we may find it easier. Natural. To argue with kindness and compassion with others we meet out in the world. What might our world look like. If we were kind to each other. Even when we disagreed. What if we listened better respected more. Accepted generously another's experience. What might that world look like. May we accept the inevitability. Epsom discord and disappointment in our relationships. May we take our coven until practice of being a loving the verse service-oriented congregational community. And apply those values to our everyday lives. May the covenants in our lives bring us great inner peace. And be the foundation for broader peace in our hurting world. Paucity. And amen.

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20110206_song_and_spirit_molly_homily.mp3

I'm not sure what my song is. I don't think it's the song of the moon like the giraffe songs. For the song of branches in the winds like the cricket song. No one's saying it to me as i entered this world. But i do believe it's there. A song written into my core. A new sound that enter the world when i did. You know the hindus believe that creation begins with sound. In one hindu creation story the nothingness before the world begins is like a string stretch-tite. Like the string of a violin. And it's as if it's been plucked. It begins to vibrate. And the creation of the whole universe. Begins with the sound. Indian philosophy says that the whole universe is made up of vibrating energy. And since migration makes sound the hindu say there is a sound at the center of everything. At the center of you and me and at the center of the whole world. And they say that sound is. Do you want to try it with me. Okay you have to take a deep breath. And then let it out as loud as you can and make sure you end with your mouth closed tight on the m sound okay. Do you feel it vibrating in your face. Let's tickle. It's such a big. Deep sound and even better when all of you make it together. I think there are a lot of things to learn from it but i wanted to lift up just to. The first is that sound is about more than just hearing. We can feel it in our body. Even people who are deaf can experience sound when they're close to its source. Because they can feel the vibration. The second thing is that we all share the possibility of this powerful sounds. Every breath we take in. Has the potential to become sound coming out. It is inside all of us. And there is another thing inside all of us. That makes potential sound. Into potential song. And that is rhythm. You can feel the rhythm inside you if you put your hand over your heart. Find your pulse. In your neck. Are your wrists. And it's with the rhythm of the heartbeat that i circled back to the song that is inside each of us. And to my belief. That while our songs are each unique. They are best when woven together. Think about the heartbeats. How early on we experience rhythm intertwined. While we're still inside our mothers before were born. Their heartbeats an h. Are already singing together. And the duet continues in any intimate moment we're hartley's head or hands. Heartbeat. Are already singing together. So maybe there's a clue there about what my song is after all. I think it must be a ham. And you may say that's because i'm a church key. And that's an actual word that my brother invented to describe me. And that's part of it but you know what i love about him. Is stinging them with all of you. I think of us singing spirit of life together. And the way the space feels charged with reverence. I think about singing this little light of mine together and feeling the room still up with energy and power. I think of us singing together just a moment ago. May i be an instrument of peace. And i believe that peace is possible. I think of us sitting with candlelight flickering on our faces as we sing silent night on christmas eve. And i believe that love will eventually win the day. The idea that each of us is created with our own song sounds like a pretty metaphor. Until you think about moments like that. A song can change things. Singing together with you has changed me. How has it changed you. I will keep looking for my song. And listening and feeling for it in the sounds and rhythms and vibrations around me. In the meantime what i really want is to keep singing together with you. And i wonder what is our song. Our song together what are the feelings what is the transformation that we are singing into being in this community. I mean it as a serious question and i hope you'll give it some thought. Know this. Whatever our song is together it needs all of our heart beating rhythms all of the sound we can muster from our center. We have many different voices. But together they are beautiful. They are powerful beyond belief. So let us keep singing together. Always singing together. Finance.

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050109_Lyceum11_Muder.mp3

The forum on public affairs spirituality culture and science. Rhetoric in needham massachusetts. The new year. 2005. The world that continuous. What is known as the global war on terrorism. And of course a world in which the disaster of the tsunami in south asia. Waze on the consciousness of many. We have been in this series. American pie. What i regarded is an abscess. Written online. In order that we. Our own government. Mites. Thanks more strategically ourselves. And therefore i think. Really quite writer. Universal an active member of the first parish in bedford massachusetts. Which. That's devotion.. Discuss with us a terrorist. I'm from nfl road call terra strategies. For the young the web log daily code. Average american some insight into the sinking of terrorism general and in particular into the osama bin laden. That won't try and reproduce the whole essay here this morning but i will hit a couple of points from it. Terrorist. You can't. Especially. Are portrayed as. They are supposed to kill americans. When did lon releases a message. Examples of video that came out just before november election. Wearing. Look where he might be hiding hiding him. And somewhere. What why is it before election was he trying to help carry help what was he trying to do. A great deal about. Whatever reason. Fear of the unknown. If you're afraid of foreigner. Mail. Americans are in no position to evaluate countermeasures. Patriot act torture. Or the warriors. We know nothing about the enemy. We fight with one hand tied behind her back. Ermine. Let me make a craft analogy. You need to understand. President of pepsi come out. There. You can turn on your mind. They could turn their backs on the web. Benefits of the western enlightenment. Capitalism democracy. Desperately trying to figure out. Easter place. Pac-man. And still grab onto the wonders of the west. On how they answer the question. Jennifer wilson. In discussing our ignorance. Media is not working very hard. And at times administration even plays our misconceptions. The terrorists are mad dog. That we can't understand. Comforting. Because we are good at our enemies are evil. Be able to believe. Somewhere out there somewhere far away. President bush's claim. And not because. Turn around. Islamic terrorist with 911 we're over here because we were over there. November 2002. After the 9/11 attack before the invasion of iraq. Beyonce's birth symbol. Because. Lebanon. Supervision constantin orders. Attack on a daily basis. Government prevent our people. You steal our wealth and oil prices. Your forces occupy our country. Which children die every day. More than. Yes. I don't know about you but. Define psychological projection. Christian fundamentalist. Compromise. And on sunday morning. Robertson. Enemy. Difficult. People try. Turn universe. Terrorist. Events take their natural course. Should be able to sympathize with that attitude. Is that much of a terrorist. The primary strategy. Through which a terrorist wants to end the injustice that he is focused on the oppressor suffer. Terrorist. The first they go farther. Teres major. Terrorism like this goes way back in western history and not always. The 10 plagues of egypt. Follow the terrorists pattern fairly. Rack it up. Until finally. Egypt. Brown-headed men dragged. Terror into the hearts of the pro-slavery people. Brown substance. For which he was captured and executed. Viagra. Theodore parker. Parker. Can support terrorism. Support terrorism. No matter how violent and how loyal. John brown. Peter parker. Disturbing as i do. My article terrorist. The first question instruction to imagine that you are. What is the first and biggest optical. After i dismiss. I wore points for the first and biggest obstacle to your victory is that the people who. Your first and most important mission of the terrorists is not. Should be able. We wouldn't have 100 people or 200 people. Leader or any active. If you aren't careful. Completely. Question 2. Intuitive. Better untenable. The middle. What's a terrorist. Her to be like that. Pattern weimar republic. Everyone has noticed that better. The first round is the two extremes against the center. Twitter. Pocketbacs in lawton. What was he trying to do. Going to wear. Weak countries with corrupt leaders. Under a government guided by the quran. World. Overthrowing. All those. Corrupt secular government through there now. And that's why he's at war with united states. Japanese. Harbor. United states to great bear. And if god could create the empire. United states on the battlefield. And the vietnamese. Alarm clock. United states in its center of gravity. What kind of. Deontological says. The american public. American economy. Supporting the united states of america. Which they openly call the almighty dollar. In order to break our economy. Economy collapse. In order to make the general's race there. So we are continuing america. So far. Was a bonus. And now for donna's gone and the united states is spending almost $100 a year.. Your mother. Seymour country. Occupying. Finally. I think. And that's on a mission. Country. I'm not sure if it were larger product. With. But how do we hold on to inverting for true justice that's beyond either or. For that kind of visiting of other possibilities and happen. Put it this way. Location of the prophet. Conjuring. He's engaged in a battle for language. The prophet is not addressing behavioral problem. After the prophetic imagination. Bring public expression. Earning that happened tonight so long. Enterprise. There. Betsy. And of my prepared remarks. You remind me of some the old remark. Thatsthem. Your implication really is that. Recognize the truth of that. And rmb trying to mobilize extremism. In response. The remark that i made in our newsletter this week. Democracy. Hard to love. The privileged and powerful people with alternative claims in demand. Activities like these low says iris marion young. Make many people anxious. Discuss. Global strategy involved in. After a hard day's work and try to focus on the discussion. Bagel over signatures on a petition or resolutions or call long list of strangers to get them to a rally. But most people would rather watch television. Read poetry. Make love. I think that's your evoking of how important it is to hold the center of an engage democracy. Instatrack kind of justifies our being here together. And contemplating. The responses to terrorism in the world end. Why it is important that we learn to think more strategically. I want to invite people in the audience to offer their common questions will start with v. I could say that i found. What you had to say this morning. Very enlightening and very convincing. And you raised the issue of. Extremist moving. As. Important consequence of terrorism. In the last election cycle. I was part of the group on the left in this country. That. Mobilized by a great deal of raid against bush and his party. And. I thought. And. Hi to i still believe. That bush is. Want to see streamers who's pushing the world towards greater terror. What you had to say this morning confirms that but. Kim and. American public in. Second radicalized way are we in fact. Holding on to the spinner or are we now becoming part of the problem. The way i answer for myself because obviously. But i think. Retain. Don't express your anger out in the world express your. Your desire for change your yearning for justice your. I know it's hard not to feel. What part of the cycle of attack of a private you don't want to. There might be a few people on your side. Empower. And. The problem with pressing problem while. Bringing to it. Factors that express in your internal anger. Get not. Yourself under control keeping. Internal psychological. Problem. The war on terrorism and. And the polarization of our politics have cutoff real dialogue. Around some of the issues that most matter. What we got. Listening to those sources. That confirm their own points of view. Dialogue and share their own general political persuasion. Heaven knows. Congregating. Public space. In which dialogue takes place in our democracy. That goes to court issues like some of the ones that you raised this morning. I think it's awesome. Heard by others to be simply speaking. From. Democratic dialogue. Is called polarization gets personal. What went through my mind a couple weeks before the election. When i came out of the burlington mall and and it was a note on my car. My car has two bumper stickers that i thought were fairly tame. Terry and the other side pieces patriotic and have a flag on it. And on my car with someone. Kind of climate we got into. What's some questions from the audience out there. I don't want to dialogue with doug by myself here mobilizing heaven knows i could. At the time of the. Second attack on the world trade center. I did some research and discovered that bin laden it declared war on the united states. For the first attack and that was never reported the reasons i've ever called where that we were at the filing holy land. Siding with a corrupt saudi regime. Of which was his family objected to. And third reason was that we were stealing there. Natural resources the oil. How come this is reported is it just because it's true. And being covered up with things like well they're they attack us because they hate us. Can the bush administration not engage in any. Content policy discussion. Why can't we get back to. Talking about what you know there. Real real real. More rational reason. It's like. Conversation because. I want a promise to do when i got up here is not overstepped myself.. Character flaws. I i i really don't. Happy answer for what to do about that. Encourage people to go to websites to explore goodland. Urban myths that people have to be careful about where they serve didn't and no there's a feeling that that it's dangerous to go to the sites that might be anti-government. I don't know why. This is kind of bring up a kind of civil disobedience but i think we should do more of though. Which is the. If. Crafts for video cameras. Arnold government office building. Carlos government office building. It reminds me. Large roof assistance. Organized. I think it's very important. But in the context of american democracy their organization. Not concerned about. The nature of our fire. Our policy. About what really makes. For security. Democracy. Interfaith leaders like myself to overcome those. Polarizing elements both here in the united states. And internationally. This is not easy work. One of the things one realizes that there's a kind of inherent advantage. Radicals. Is there a uniform at this message. When you try to build. A progressive and moderate coalition of response. You don't have. Media world where the. The media. Want to. Fine. Simple polarity. To the. Places that polarizacion that's it. Inherent in the media. Lies behind our difficulty. Network. Sitting around. Think about what. Will our local cablevision won't want to hear that about. It doesn't justify. Every effort that one can make these days to have. Versions of the old town meeting. Where. Diversity of points of view about important public affairs. Are brought to bear and where there can be face-to-face. Or the kind of discussion that is broadcast also it welcome. Responses. And in a subsequent presentations in the light as we do in this forum. Further comment. I'm curious. I regarding the estate of the ron. They're one of the country to another 20 years ago was. The great satan. Twenty years later or whatever it's been 25 years later. You were able to take a popular vote. In a second. What's going on there was bin laden. If that's what he's trying to create. It doesn't seem very successful. There. Clarissa gotten hold of. What country would be better. Ironically read everything. Available. But i think that's kind of. Typical point. What do protestants think of catholic countries you know. Through continued use of polarization. We're many of people internally. That polarisation which is blocking them from getting to the real issues with their own. Next question for us i think we'll be. How the united states is going to respond when it really does become clear. That iran has a nuclear capacity. And. Varieties ties. Organizations like hezbollah. That are on our list of terrorist organization. That's them. That's extremely worrisome development that many analysts have said. Might not have. Gotten to this point. If our attention has been focused on. Saddam hussein. And had been. More focused on the the other two countries that. We're on mr. bush's axis of. Actually had the potential. Or a distributing weapons of mass destruction. Rogue organization. Situation. Which is better. Countries that have. Democracy there. And. . bad. That god identified as the pro-american crowd. Democratic movement. There will be elections however flawed in iraq. That will result in on dominated government in iraq. Almost inevitably going to have some. Either overt or. Quieter ties to elements within iran. One wonders whether you're going to have. More more right-wing commentators morass we've gotten ourselves into. Who are calling for withdrawal of american troops from iraq. I'll following election. Interesting set the middle in this country seems absolutely. Paralyzed. Opposed. Areal. Policy around rockford. Was that the american people were unable. To discern what on earth. Precisely would happen. My own strength hope actually his but it is going to be our right-winger. To withdraw our troops from iraq i wonder what you think of that prophecy. That way. The right is not as uniform. Somebody's going to break away. The opposition in his own party not. There was a small article in the new york. Iraq and making noises about running for the presidency. Couple of. Comment why. Don't. Confront. Lopresti. Very real issues. Bin laden has brought up. Erase. It's more comfortable not to think you're like a terrorist. But. I think we also have an issue with the public having dirty hands on a lot of these issues. Thomason loudon spain's are for advances. Radical islam. But if you were serious about advancing. Democracy and capitalism in islamic countries. Others of his. Complaint like the low price we pay for oil. I would have a huge resonance. Really let them have a democracy. And capitalism and individual rights. And this is one of the things that the terrorists have been saying. I think that may be part of the answer to why we don't get an open debate on these issues in the american press because we don't want to admit that. I think. It was hailing back in the first gulf war i saw. Man street interview in which they ask the gas station attendant. And. That is not a state of affairs in which we can. And playing the innocent sweet like. Playing. You have any reaction to all this. As. Supporters of democracy. I don't remember when exactly. Where it was on the party that was all set to win elections and i believe. Nowhere where was our outcry against. Disrupting democratic processes then. And so one of the things you hear again and again. Earlier about to pull reservation of the media especially the right-wing doing left and right and comment on recent cancellation of crossfire and the second is a comedian. Affected. Hilarious. That is organized in the spirit of no mercy to people on either pole. Yeah i think. The crossbar. The problem isn't how the media program what there. Programming to. Weather. And whether any particulars of any particular stove stays on or not. Stop shouting at one another. I want to thank you very provocative. One that suggests that indeed if we americans don't learn. A little bit more about terrorist strategy we are not going to be nearly as effective. Continuing our commitment to democratic values. I want to. And i want. For your attention this morning stand for being part of the.

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20101017_what_would_you_give_molly_sermon.mp3

Not very long at all before his assassination. Mohandas gandhi gave his grandson arun. A piece of paper. On which he had written what he perceived to be the seven wonders of the world. He's a since become known as gandhi seven deadly sins. They are wealth without work. Pleasure without conscience. Knowledge without character. Commerce without morality. Science without humanity. Politics without principle. Worship. Without sacrifice. I thought when i first read these. Finally some deadly sins that i think mayuyu community and i might get on board with. We definitely see the deep value of work and conscience. Character morality humanity and principle. We see the way things can turn a ride when these are absent. Matter fact we talk about these things all the time. Principles we have those we have seven. Conscience and character we have those two and morality we've got a ton of morality. But the last one. The worship without sacrifice one. Maybe that's a little more challenging. I don't think we really talked much about sacrifice. At its worst it sounds superstitious in supernatural. Even at its best. It's not a characteristic we can claim and be proud of. Rather it's an active call to give something up. We live in a culture that often tells us we can have it all and we should want it all. I don't think that our church culture is entirely an exception. I sort of thought of the question why am i here. Why did i start going to a church. Why are you here. Maybe your first answer. Is that you're here for your kids religious education. They do you like singing in the choir. You like coming to worship get a little dose of inspiration for the week. You have friends here you like the community. All really good reasons. Is that although. I think maybe not. Are you really here just because you're getting something out of it. Or are you here because a deep part of your senses. That you have something to give the world. And you need this community to call it out of you. To demand that you make the space. To help you find the courage to give it. Unitarian theologian james luther adams saw a church at its best to be what he called a prophethood of all believers. He looks to the hebrew bible to explain the idea of prophecy. In these stories profits are people who are called by god. Who give themselves over to god and who proclaim. God's message as they hear it. Profits are often revealed in their community. They give up everything. To proclaim their vision of the world. Even if it's an unpopular one. In 1920 a few days after voting for the first time since gaining her right. As for mother. And universalist prophets. Olympia brown commanded us down the ages. Standby this fae. Workforit. And sacrifice for it. And rejoice that you are worthy to be entrusted with its great message. In other words she says be a profit for our face. Know that it requires something of you. How much does it require of us. Perhaps it is just as the prophet micah tells us. You don't need to sacrifice food and welson our kids. Rather. What is required of us. Is. What is required is to give our whole selves over to doing justice. And to loving-kindness. And to walking humbly with our god. What is required of us is the attitude of the prophet isaiah. Who win god asked why send go for us. Finally replied here i am. Send me. When we think of something the church should be doing. We do well to remember isaiah saying send me. When we have a vision of how the world can be changed and transformed we do well to remember isaiah saying send me. This is what i think paul means when he tells the romans to offer their own bodies as living sacrifice. We have to be ready to step up and give the offering of our own commitments. We have to turn our lives over to our faith. But notice we don't have to give our lives to whatever someone else says is right. Rather going back to paul again we must be transformed by the renewing of our minds. So that we may discern what is good. Unacceptable and right. This is where our individual searching and seeking can come in. If we're willing to give ourselves over to it entirely. The heart of a nose. What is good. Unacceptable and right. Are we willing to follow it. Wherever it might lead. I could also be clear that the sacrifice i'm advocating is not self-denial or self-annihilation. Rather it is the willingness to give the fullness. Of ourselves. Over to the passion of the spirits as we encounter it. Sometimes i wish god would just chased me down like in the jonah story. And tell me what it is i must have to give. What we must do is much harder. Making the space and busy lives to hear that still small voice. Discerned where we are called. And what is required of us. Right now i feel called to. Talk about a particular sacrifice i think we can make it together and our worship. Tied up in the notion of giving our whole selves over to this face. To this community and to our larger fishing. Think we need to sacrifice. Any need to keep up appearances. We need to give up on decorum. Which always calls us to hold back. Fifa lights. Hide the fullness of ourselves because of its inevitable flaws. Anytime we hold back. Is a symptom of the stand of worship without sacrifice. Every now and then maybe we shut out the calling of the spirit. For the calling of the heart because it's too loud or improper. We inherit this tendency for my theological history in at least two ways. The first is the influence of our puritan forebears. Who believe themselves to be god's elect. You're a part of the elect. Then you show that you are part of felix. By maintaining the appearance of perfection. The second is a part of our somewhat later religious heritage. He ever onward and upward spirit of optimism and religious liberalism beginning in the 1800's. If we are always onward and upward then we better not let anyone see the two steps back we take with every step forward. And our unison confession we prayed. Forgive us for repelling people by the way we set a good example. Forgive us indeed. How can we in the words of that same prayer encourage the secret struggle of every person. If the example we set. Paper over every struggle. That's why i like the jonah story. Of all the prophets. Jonah scott. He runs away from his calling. God chases them he runs away again and he just keeps running away. Sort of maybe like we all do. But he's real. And then his realness. He eventually comes around. The truth is we're not always good we're not always okay. To worship pretending otherwise is. Ascend and gandhi sense because it holds us apart from each other. And from the prophetic act of giving our whole selves over to our faith. Recently a colleague was telling me about a haitian christian worship service that he attended. During the service there was a time of prayer but it was not the flight sitting and quiet kind of prayer that we're used to. My friends astonishment everyone in the room got down on the floor. Turned around now that their chairs and began to pray aloud in a rush of noise. Whatever was on each of their minds they just said it out loud to their god. Some spoken haitian creole some spoken english summer loud. Summer soft. Some pleading some praising. There were all kinds of tears she told me tears of despair and of ecstasy and of joy. That sounds incredibly moving i told him. And very scary. I want to try it at my union church he told me. Good luck i told him and insurance i don't know that out loud kneeling individual prayer is the sacrifice called forth from us. Probably for some of us it would be revelatory and for some of us very painful. But the spirit that i see in that story. The unembarrassed passion. Speaks to me. What calls to me is the idea of worship with no half-heartedness. Worship that lets the soul be ardent and it's pain and it's urinating and it sprays. It is only that kind of worship that allows us to bring our whole selves as living sacrifice to our community. N ^ our collective vision. Another my minister friends recently preached the sermon about the religious and prosthetic value of hysteria. She told us there are so many things going on in the world. Make her wonder why we aren't always yelling and crying out together and worship. For her in that moment it was the cement cement aside in honduras that called for tears. For me in this moment. It's this epidemic of glbtq teen suicide. Which i learned extended this past week into my home state of oklahoma. I was already feeling sad and angry but this hit me very literally close to home. These are our kids. Are we willing to give them our tears. We have to give them something more than a perfunctory wave hi we're here. You're welcome if you want. You you blogger amy snowing boss. Wrote about these teenagers and the uu response recently. And words that resonate with me. She said when i messaged the glbtq community is. You're welcome to come here. We're missing an opportunity to say god loves you and so do we. Please. Please come and share your beautiful light with us. Which message she asked. Would save you in an hour of need. I know it's message was save me. When always say it's welcome. Where's the passion. And the compassion. Could that passion be our sacrifice cuz that be what we are called to give. In a christian heritage the word sacrifice and passion are closely linked. The word passion in the latin means suffering. But its entry into english. Only referred. To that most ultimate sacrifice. The suffering and death of jesus on the cross. It wasn't until the early 13th century that the word came to refer to other kinds of suffering. And the late fourteenth century that it took on its. Currently, meaning of strong emotion or desire. Gandhi says that worship without sacrifice this sinful. I say worship without passion essential. A passionate about desire and teeth need than the sacrifice we must make in our worship. Is a sacrifice of every single artifice or wall that keeps us from saying we need each other. I need. You. I proclamations of welcome or shallow and empty when they're not based and what's the illusion catherine color has called the design arrows. The transcendent desire for more love. More beauty. More flourishing. Interested mation when we allow ourselves to be influenced by the divine arrows we give ourselves over to be moved by desire. Desire for each other and our interconnectedness. And for the just world that we. Can envision. Going beyond the walls of appearance. We can connect with our passion. We can tap into the streams of compassionate love that move us toward worship that is truly transformative. It is then that each of our offerings to the world will be called forth. From those deep hidden places within. It is then that we become the prophetic community. We strive to be. The only question now is are we willing. Are we willing to give our entire cell. As channels for the streams of love. Even if that includes streaming tears. Or is it our fate to end up parched and dry. Let us choose sacrifice. Let us choose passion. Let us choose need. Let us choose. Love. Maybe so.

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20101219_festival_of_lights_homily_john.mp3

When i was in high school. My first girlfriend. Her sister hillary was playing the virgin mary. She was in 8th grade then she was seated on a donkey. Being played by to 8th grade boys. Crunch dover and draped in burlap. And standing in front of the donkey. Was joseph. Another 8th grade boy. Who clearly had the first line in the pageant. But couldn't remember it. He stood there paralyzed staring out at the audience. No word was spoken except from the nun. Who were flapping and trying to feed him his line. Finally hillary broke the silence memorably. Come on we have to get the bethlehem before christmas. Curtain. None change of costume. New eighth-grade boy. Pageant begins again. Ours is not a traditional one. It draws on traditions from all around the world. What does that mean that we think that all religions have the same message. Not really. No more than any two of us. Have the same needs in our human spirit. The light is not the same. Nor is whatever the darkness is that it tries to overcome or as ganesh. The remover of obstacles might say every human soul has a different obstacle to overcome. The christmas story suggests that perhaps it is. Fear. And selfishness. Emma hanukkah story. The light stands for faithful. To that mixture of devotion to justice. And mercy. And humility that's at the heart of the jewish tradition. In aslam the problem is seen to be human pride. How we need to give up our different tribalism. And bow down. Submission before. The mystery that's bigger than any. In buddhism. The obstacle is. Trying to hold on. But these are different ways. Understanding the challenge. Of the season. I'm so i have a suggestion. For you mothers and fathers grandmothers and grandfathers. Children of all ages. Sometime in this dark season. Take some time quiet. And the dark. The contemplate until story. To think about. The obstacles you would like to work on overcoming. The most memorable multi-generational event i ever took place took partying. Was. A church-wide retreat called the celebration of the beauty of the night. And i would challenge you this christmas not to despise the darkness. With the festival of light. But rather embrace it. Stay up late one night is a family. Let the kilt children break their bedtime. Tell stories later than usual. Hug one another and think of what really matters. And what the obstacles are all around the world. That we would like to remove. So that all people of faith. Dwell in greater lights. And greater love. So may it be. Call men.

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20110130_return_to_the_sources_john_sermon.mp3

We are involved with one another. We forget that sometimes marianne moore itunes. There are things that are more important. Reading it however even with a perfect contempt. After all. A place for the genuine. Which one would m. Deliver a sermon religion. Many people do. Religions let's face it conceived. That is neither rational or irrational. It does not mean however that they are untrue or without reason i believe that. Religions. At their best. Are about inspiring more generous spirits and serve a profound. Necessary even evolutionary purpose. Free human beings. They preserve the deepest wisdom. In every culture. Trying to tell us in various ways in the face of human suffering. To say yes to life yes to greater generosity of spirit. And that is. The still small voice of the critical intellect. And of the individualized conscience both need to be heard but only as parts of a whole. Person. Just from the neck up what's a heart as well. The whole rushing stream of life the one that runs through your veins. Sandwich. All of us are ultimately one. There's nothing like a memorial service. Is i was reminded on both friday night and yesterday morning. Bossman. Frankly like many of us somewhat alienated from conventional religion. And i say understandably so. As i told their personal life stories. Religion is all too often come down to us. And we know this is a kind of polluted stream. Captured channels by the principalities and powers. Detailing. To do. It's original and intended job years ago when i was minister in dallas texas. I edited a collection of essays and sermons by my one-time colleague and mentor jacob trap. The title taken from the poem that i read earlier. Return to the springs. And promise that was related. Buckle of the bible belt. There's a stream that runs through the center of the city that i was was amused realize was named the trinity. It was. Shallow. Full of pollution. And subject. Rather destructive flooding. And it's separated the poor hispanic and black neighborhoods. To the south from the downtown. And more affluent white enclaves to the north. And therefore seem to me all too often emblematic of the local religious life. Which stank of parochialism and ranks materialism. All covered with a veneer or. Perfume. Christian piety. Guess what i wrote in the introduction to that book whenever i cross that river. I would be amazed to see. White bear. Symbolized by beautiful heron. In the wetlands. And be reminded that somewhere far upstream. There were pure and life-giving springs. Sources from which one could drink safely in rise refreshed. Even on the hottest texas summer day. Jake retired upstream to santa fe new mexico. And with him and inspired by him i began to do some of that hiking the alludes to in this poem. Exploring the mountain springs lakes and hidden sources of streams in the westin. And then in various other parts of the world. In the swiss alps where some of the earliest unitarians took refuge. For both the reformation of the counter-reformation. In southeast poland in the river valleys of hungarian speaking transylvania where they had to flee orthodox protestant and catholic persecutors alike. All because they simply wanted to return. To the springs. Of the biblical tradition that sell. To the great. Prophet. Of israel. Like micah. So the great humanity of jesus. Springs of renewal that gratitude love and tolerance. And forgiveness from which authentic faith flows. This is true. Traditions all around the world. When we return to the source he would sites from ancient chinese wisdom. We find the meaning. We find the genuine freshman. Original inspiration lived religion. It's essential spirituality was jake who introduced me and many unitarian universalist. To the jewish stage martin buber. Do the ivao spirituality of truly relational. And coconut oil religion. To which i constantly say we has fire in this a covenanted community of equals. Where when we look at one another. Rifle. And treat one another rifle. There is a bit of the eternal. They're in the interaction. In an early anthology called to hallow this life he popularized boober. In america and then the later book. Call the light of a thousand suns. Mystery religions. He extended this returns of the springs. Writing. The great age of human intuitive wisdom. Roughly the millennium from moses to jesus which includes such great figures as isaiah zarathustra the buddha. Confucius socrates. Should speak to us. But some are still unrealized future. Age of science and technology. A growing materialism and competition. Nothing is to listen to these voices. Cooperation. Generosity. Adult sonic community. Jake was willing to go even further upstream than the recorded historical sources of wisdom collection that i edited. Was called primitive religion. Return to the springs. It begins. But that's the illusion. And he was dutch. Once wrote of paganism. That it is everyone's first religion. And that it underlies. And just a part of all religious past all religious all religions past and present. To despise paganism despise the human. Although instead of that term he preferred the term primitive religion. From. Primos. First. Primitive in the sense of original elemental. Did drew ever more heavily on it personally when he retired the side effects. Started visiting the native american pueblo where the spanish missionary priest. Never quite succeeded in suppressing the earth-based spirituality. Of the people that they converted. Did he also love science. And was terribly proud of a son-in-law who is a distinguished. Professor of astrophysics. He saw the scientific quest another path for us human beings. To try to touch the springs of ultimate reality. Quoting simone bay. Real contact. Is to love. And true science. Is to study with love. The beauty in reality of the world. And the jesuit priest who said that. Pure research. Is akin to adoration. And i feel that this is true even if the scientific study is about some of those things that's in the raw creation than in this life. What cancer. For public health issues. Bullying. Deaths from suicide access to guns. Pollution. Economic collapse. Actually studying. Their causes. Speakingout. The deeper sources of our society's addictions. Cultural individualism to low taxes always high consumption. Imperial domination war-making. Associated discriminatory. Stream. Jake could even see that are. Ar. Affiliation with progressivism. Which something political rather than spiritual. Is really just. Human prayer. And a witness. For the future of interdependent life on this planet. Like emerson and the transcendentalist. Show me celebrated is the high ground and. Call continental divide is he put it of american unitarianism. He didn't want a technological age that didn't also. Know how to conserve what our forbearers. New best. Their deepest most intuitive. Spiritual and moral wisdom. Didn't know how to go upstream and recapture it again. Conservative concern for others beyond. Conserving the revolutionary spirit of the bill of rights. Now read is a declaration of interdependence. Filtering the waters that come down to us from the past so that our children and our children's children. Can continue to drink. Clean living water. Both in the literal. And in the spiritual sense. These days when i asked my seminary students at harvard divinity school which of the sources that we unitarian. Universalist. Site is feeding our living tradition. And that are celebrated in the cantata. Which are most important to them. It's striking to me how many say the first one. The first source direct experience. Ivette transcending mystery and wonder affirmed in all cultures. Which moves us. Renewal of the spirit. And an openness to the forces that create an app hold life. You are neil transcendentalist by telephone. But just the other day i was. Speaking with gary dorian. Very distinguished historian of american religion. Who has been asked to speak at the 50th anniversary of the consolidation of the universalists in the unitarian. At our general assembly in june. And dr. dorian said he was planning to focus on why. What's a religious world. In all of its manifestations. Most needs from us. Is an understanding of why are humanism. And are transcendentalism. Still matter. And concede and transform. The religions of the world. I say that there's much a promise what we have to offer. Deny movement. Small was it is. We to grow frustrated with all the fiddle. Abbeville community together the committee meetings. Ever-changing church school curricula the fundraising necessities the rest. I know i do. Why shouldn't you. My friends there is a place. Not only for the human. And the genuine. But for the profoundly transformative. And influential. When we return to the sources. We find the meaning. And when we live out. And promise implicit in our spiritual covenant with one another. And with those sources. We help not only to fulfill the great promise. But this is staying the whole. That is at the very heart of the human. So may it be.

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20110424_ready_for_joy_molly_homily.mp3

We don't know how true the easter story is in the sense of historical accuracy. Probably some of the things did happen and some of them didn't as in every good story. But the story of easter does contain the kind of deep. And profound truths that all good stories do. Colonel. The mystery of life. Writ large. I think the events of holy week. Have you heard about today in the easter story mirror on a grand scale the patterns of all of our lives. We each find reason for hope. We put our faith in people and things. Many time. Baked paella. Or i defeated. Christopher law. Always we suffer loss. We despair and grieve and reap. Something happens. To bring joy back to her. Something small or something large. Something normal something. Unbelievable. 1 dress. But always. Joy comes back. It may not come back to stay but rise again it does. And i want to be ready when joy comes back to me. The psalmist says weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning. I need to dive no matter how long is the night and it can be long. In the morning. We see it every spring at the light gets longer and flowers burst forth. And the cold especially long this year winter and. We see it eventually every time we grieve. Beristain. I know that. But then there is a moment and who knows what it is. And a flash of joy will break through. Something was s***. Suddenly there is room for joy to. We see it every easter we celebrate a man whose teachings of peace and love have lived on for thousands of years. Beyond that day he was hung upon the cross. By those who would kill that message. Easter is a holiday of the greatest joy. When we sing hallelujah and hosanna and shout he is risen. No matter each of our own love or dislikes of the word easter is undeniably and unavoidably about resurrection. Resurrection means to bring back to life or to rise again and it's a word that is worth thinking about carefully. As we do every year at easter. I have a friend from divinity school who started a blog called the religious left.org. And yesterday he posted an interpretation of the resurrection. Seminary student crystal lewis. I found it incredibly powerful. Had to share. Reflecting on the acts of love that jesus had given to the poor the sick and the downtrodden. Remembering how he ain't. With the haters. Attacked poor when no one else would. Crystal president about the resurrection. When i thought more carefully about it i realized. Each last of the whip each nail and every insults hurled at jesus while he hung on the cross. What does simultaneous assaults. Sonic generation of people. Finally started to feel loved. Free. And hopeful. I finally realize that the claim of the resurrection by early christians was arguably not as much cosmic. As it was a conversion of a system that had been stacked against them. Finally i realized what it meant for them to say jesus is not dead. Those who claim that jesus had risen were telling the powerful that despite their attempts to bury hope and equality underground. Despite their efforts to kill the boys of the one who had touched them. When no one else would. Despite their efforts to into the good news that was being preached to the poor and the radical method of liberty for the cactus. People would continue to live on. Crystal wright resurrection means that hope is still brewing. Even in the most corrupt system. Resurrection means that love is still powerful. In ways. That can often only be explained by invoking the transcendence. Resurrection mean. Nothing can stop the will of a downtrodden people driven by a force greater than themselves. Not the death of one person not the death of a religious ideology not even his. Generation. The message of hope. Live on. Received today the message of joy cannot die. See the message back and love lives on. Actually radical message of hope. For all who suffer. And for all who see that the world is not yet as it should be. A great example of this recently i like to watch creatures on youtube. Some people watch cute kittens are funny babies. Recently i watched a clip of a charismatic preacher who gave justice message of hope. Easter narrative good friday. The day of sorrow. An easter sunday. The day of resurrection and joy. He said it like this. Today is friday. And jesus hanging on the cross. But don't you worry. Monday,. He said today is friday and you might be hurting and sad. But lemme tell ya. Sunday is coming. Friday people are saying things can't change and you shouldn't even try. But i'm telling you the good news it's only friday and sunday coming. Displaying a bunch of people in their church can't do anything to change the world. Let me tell you the good news. That was friday. Sunday. Sunday is coming and hopeless on and we are going to be ready. We're going to be ready for joy we can prepare the way for that message of love. Recently i read about the people in georgia we're preparing the way. Performing the small acts of love that the stories tell us can change the world. Along with cast recently in georgia. Copying the repentant immigration law of arizona. Thursday. In remembrance of jesus. Washing the feet of his disciples. An act of love so small. But the large. The members of a catholic church near marietta georgia marched in protest. White. Latina. U.s. citizen undocumented immigrant. And every status in between. And when they got to the town square. People with citizenship. Notes on the ground. And they removed the shoes at several undocumented immigrants. Some of these immigrants had ankle bracelets on electronic bracelet. Somewhere in the deportation process. And the citizens began to wash their feet. Gently. What's respect. Enter drive-in with clean white tile. And what they were saying was we are people together. And worthy of respect and what they were living was jesus's method of love and in that moment another possibility for joy into the world. Sunday asteroid coming. And always another friday close behind. But today is easter. Today sunday. We're ready. Today is a reminder that the message of love and justice is already here and has been for thousands of years. Already here among us. The things that we do to show i love for the world tempe small or large. It can be normal or unbelievable. Let us be reminded on this day. Reminded with joy. To do them. The tower of joy is within you. The power of hope. Is within you. Let it rise up. As joy comes back to us all.

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20120318_one_thing_needful_john_homily.mp3

As we entered. The village. People set off mortar like fireworks. In the morning sky. They explained to us that they were summoning the spirits of their ancestors. Their grandmothers and grandfathers. Their great-grandmother's and great-grandfather. We were there just a month ago. American strangers in a mayan highland village. In guatemala. A place called shutting off. We were there to help the local mothers fathers. Do the school for their children. A generation ago there was a civil war in guatemala. When many. Mayan women men disappeared like the women in the song. Few of the mothers and fathers and shocking up got a chance to go to school. But now they want their chance for their children. And their children's children at least many do. Next week at 9:15. People who went on the trip with me. Will tell the whole story to the adults in the congregation. As we conclude our celebration of the month of march. Has international women's month. Among other things. We were there to make sure. But the girls subtracting up. Would get an education. In too many places around the world. Only the boys are sent to school. Not the girls. Gwen and i went on another trip with a group of american. Clergy. We went to israel. And palestine. And one night we were invited out to dinner by an arab man. Who was then the superintendent of schools. Embarrass shubba. The largest city in. The southern part of israel. It's dry desert called the negative. We drove out into the countryside. We were going to have dinner at the encampment of tents. Where his father and mother. And other members of his bedouin family still lived and worked following their flocks of sheep. In search of fresh grass. And well water. The old man of the family came out to greet us the great-grandfather. It was a little bit like being welcomed by abraham himself. Whose story actually took place about. 4000 years ago. But in some places as i told the kids not long ago. Not much changes. Before we went into the big reception temp. Our host translated his father explaining to us. Gwen and the other women in the group or being treated that evening as honorary men. When frown. What's wrong with being a woman. She was thinking. She and the other american women were also not happy that inside the tent. There were no women from our host family. None of them at all. The old man introduced only his other sons. And grandson. And great-grandson. We were all seated on. Rugs spread under the big tent. And he began. To welcome us by telling us. The story of his family. Who is father was. I just father's father. And his father's father's father. Going all the way back i thought we were going to get to abraham. The bedouin arabs. You see. All claim to be descended from ishmael. The song that abraham had. With sarah's maidservant hagar. They were sent out into the desert. After isaac was born. Number for mother's renamed. So in the jesus story. Maurice said about his mother. Then about his father right. And then the meal was served. Play women but by the grandson. The great-grandsons ground up the coffee beans. To make the thick dark turkish coffee. But followed are you eating. And when asked. Where the women of the family were. Well the old man explained that it was the custom to hide them. Some strangers might want to steal them. I think she found a second time. Did any of his daughters and granddaughters go to school. Since his eldest son had become the superintendent of schools. In the nearby city. Oh they didn't used to he said. But now they do. Not entirely approved. Why one of his granddaughters had become a doctor. And another engineer. And now what bedouins would marry them. The old man worried. His eldest son just laugh. Maybe they don't want to marry better with father. Said the educator. When the time came for us to leave as we drove off. We finally caught a glimpse of the women. There they work. Peeking out from behind another tent. Where the food had been prepared. Standing underneath the pole that held the dish antenna for the tv. And laughing. And waving goodbye to us. It was like. An experienced today. Audible bible story long ago. And the other story that we heard this morning the one that gwen tool. Only one of the women stays. Inside fussing to prepare the meal. For the guests who have to be fed. That's martha the older sister. While her younger sister married. Sits with the traveling teacher the rabbi. Asking questions. Listening. Discussing. Taking an active part in becoming. Well aware of herself as a spiritual person. And a moral agent. Who can help to shape the whole human story. And not just be left out of it. When martha complains that her sister isn't helping in the kitchen. Rabbi jesus says it's easy to be worried about many things. But there is really only one thing that is needed. And mary has chosen. And that choice should not add must not be taken away from her. That is the choice. To be fully educated. To sit with a man. To be empowered. And i say that that is the one thing that is most needed. In the world we have today. The full empowerment. Of girls and women everywhere. A chinese proverb says women hold up half the sky. And in a book called half the sky. The journalist nicholas kristof. Who writes for the new york times. And his chinese-born wife cheryl woodland. Tell powerful stories about women in today's world. And about turning oppression of them. Into opportunity. To show how important it is. Not just to the women themselves. But for all people. And for the planet. Women. Forgiven the choice. If to marry. And whom. And when. And if to have children. With more education. And more power. Help the population on the planet from going up too fast for society. And for the environment to handle. I think of women like one gary maathai. From kenya in east africa. Who died late last year and was the first woman. In her country to earn a doctor's degree. Later she won the nobel prize for peace. Not only for her work on behalf of the human rights of women. But for organizing women all across kenya. To protect and heal the environment. Planting literally millions of trees. We're too many had been cut down for fuel. And the place has become almost desert-like. I think of our friend 11 bots. In india. And who's simple home gwen and i were once entertained. You are with help from our unitarian universalist holding india program. Founded seiwa. The self-employed women's association of india. Which has now organized almost a million and a half for women. Into cooperatives and unions. With their own bank and their own empowerment training. It's become a model. For women's empowerment. In poor countries from. Africa to haiti to. Central america. Women's empowerment says the united nations helps to raise economic productivity. And reduce the number of children who died in infancy. It contributes to improved health and nutrition. For everyone. It improves the chances of education for the next generation. I would add it heals the planet. In guatemala and everywhere that are unitarian universalist service committee has partners. An environmental issues like the human right to water. On economically justice and fair trade. On the promotion of democracy and civil rights. In one way or another. All the partners must be involved with empowering women. I think about the problem in our world of terrorism. And then remember the societies that produced terrorists. Are male run societies that are always trying to keep women. Behind the tent. Even here in the united states. There are some people. And political forces. That are sadly trying to roll back the clock. On the advances that women have made. Too many women are still disappearing. Around the world. From violence. Repression. Unequal distribution of healthcare and food among other things. But women leaders are also appearing. In more and more places. With more and more to say. And to do. And to contribute. To the conversation. And hours for 1. Is a religious movement. A group in which over half of our unitarian universalist ministers are not women. That wants to help. Lead this overdue change. It's the thing most needed. In the 21st century. To build a global society that is sustainable. And peaceful. And just. Not just for ourselves. And for our time on this planet. But for the world's children. And their children's children. Down through the generations to come. Me that vision. Otherworld. That we read about. When we spoke the words. And then. Made that vision guide us. And may the spirit. Behind. The one that makes for wholeness. And for peace. Be among us. And sustain us. As we work. For the one thing. That is most neat.

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050501_Lyceum18_DoveKent.mp3

Affordable housing. Housing affordability here in my new community. Affordable. Chamber of commerce. Confirm. Affordable housing impact on the economy. Based on. Around. Government in our area. Development. We're more proactive. End of the developing affordable housing. I think i sense that. Suburban community. Older building. Accessory apartment. Under our zoning. About this matter. Apartment. The character the community. Does the stock of affordable housing units simply by allowing some of the older houses to to have such such a partner.. More affordable housing. The character of the community. Hollowed-out in the middle. Everything. Habitat. 900. Popularity. Affordable housing care for our elderkin where a1 where are they are firefighters in our police. International. Track record. Character. And well-thought-out affordable housing development. I think my colleagues in love. What kind of community. Iraq. Where. Who are you. We are a community. Community. Continuity. Understanding. Affordable housing. We're already here. How big is the. Parker yard. Thank you very much. Speaking to about affordable housing.

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20110724_amazing_grace_molly_homily.mp3

I love that soulful old him. And i love the notion of grace. It echoes of mercy. And love. And surprising strength. And grace is actually something i have experienced. Here. If you have welcomed me into your lies. And into your life together these past two years. The grace to let me start out a bit lost. With faith that you would find the ministry in me. The grace to give me a home base of support and care and love is i tried on this folk ation. The grace of forgiveness when i've messed things up. The grace to bestow upon me the gifts. And responsibilities of ordination. And to send me forth from here on waves of love. I am glad and grateful to say. This community is not. Lacking in grace. But grace. It's not a word that i hear very often here. Or in many of our unitarian universalist churches. Realizing the intimate relationship between grace. An original sin. I see why we don't always claim grace. According to the common interpretation the need for grace. Enter the world. With the inherently. Fallen. And depraved nature of humankind. The most religious liberals find hard to swallow. But. We are a people who believe in our power to radically reinterpret. And i believe. Grace. Have something to say. To us. And it all begins with a new telling of a very old story. 1. Upon a time. Are ancient parents eve and adam lived in the garden of eden in a state. Complete and perfect innocence. They relaxed and walked. And jiggled around naked. Unaware of their bodies. Unaware of themselves. And because they knew nothing of themselves they also knew nothing of their connection with the trees and the animals. And each other. And because they knew nothing of connection they knew nothing of love. Now. Since our mythic mother and father knew nothing of love of course they knew nothing of pain. As we have always suspected. Our mother and father didn't know very much. But then one day a wise snake came up to momma even said here you are in the garden and life is easy and free of pain but you are not whole. Because you know nothing of yourself. For us good and evil. Now you are blind. But take this apple. Eat of it. And you will begin to see. Now eve didn't understand a single word he said but when the snake. Gave her the apple she saw that it was something to eat. She took a b. And she shared it with adam who took a bite as well. And then suddenly there was a moment. Beginning of human time. After this moment adam and eve came to know themselves and they came to no shame and they came to know pain and time begin. The knowledge of good pulled someone weigh. And the knowledge of evil pulled than the other and it hurts a deep part of them they didn't even know they had. It felt to them that they must be shattering into a million pieces. But they must be cursed by god. But god came to them. I told them my children. You have brought contradiction into the world. And now you will come to know the sweet and bitter taste of heartache. By eating of the apple you have opened the garden door into a world of infinite complexity. And infinite possibility. The world you both enter will always be changing and you must change with it. You will have growing pains and birthing pains and dying pains. But. Fear. Not. For even as you suffer you will also have happiness. Even as you toil you will find times of grateful rest. Even as you struggle with jealousy and greed and rage. You will find in yourself. Empathy. Contentment. And peace. And when the suffering and the joy the toil and the rest the struggle and the peace. Still feel like they might tear you apart. Still fear not. For my grace. Will keep you whole. Now go my children for i have made this world to be lived in. And so even adam having heard the words of god looked at each other. For who else did they have. Gravity chowders hands. For what else could they hold. And stepped bravely out into the wide world. But what else could they do. This is the story. Ava moments. It was the moments when life got complicated. The moment when things got interesting. I think of the story of original sin as the tale of our eyes opening. Opening to the wide world that are owned naked vulnerability. The story about coming to know our own deep complexity. Endocrinologist. And honesty. Sometimes that knowledge hurts. Hurts because the world contains. Just as much bad as good and so do we. Hurts because the contradiction threatens to pull us apart. From each other. Apart from god. One meaning of the word grace. Is ease of movement. And that's how i like to think about the fall from grace. It was a falling away of eve. It was when life. Carhartt. One sunday morning about halfway through seminary i walked into a church in cambridge looking for relief from a pain in a deep part of me. I hadn't even known i had. My eyes have been opened a bit. In a process that seminary is wants to kick off. To all the aspects of myself. And i didn't entirely like what i saw. I was pulled one way by self-doubt and the other by fear and somewhere between the lighting of the candles in the first him. Crack in my heart. Began to spiderweb out. And i began. Decry. Emerson tells us that there is a crack in everything god has made. And leonard cohen ads. That's how the light gets in. You see it is only after the fall that are eyes are open. And at that moment. Another meaning for the word grace. Love's in through the cracks. Divine love. Unearned. And freely given. His grace is not something we can collect or do. And it doesn't mean that things become easy but when we're worn down. And hanging by a thread. That thread is grace. Grace. Is the thread that binds us back up when we're falling to pieces. It meets us. Where we most needed. When our hearts are reaching out for something to hold onto. That is when grace comes to us. Out of mystery and into our lives. Bearing the gifts of forgiveness and completeness. Saying. You are whole. And lovable. And be loved. Exactly as you are. I'm grace is also the thread that binds. This community together. As love arises between us. Animanga. And from us for there is also grace. In a kind word. In an outstretched hands. Grace. Arises between and among us 2. When we embody divine love. In our relationships with one another. Like a harmony that intertwines to voices into something more beautiful and complex than either voice could hope to be alone. We sometimes find between us and more awesome love. And any one of us could ever hope to give. That sunday morning in cambridge as i wept. And the congregation stood to sing their next him. The man in front of me turned around. His layered clothes were stained with weather and where. His belongings sat next to him in the pew. His eyes knew better than mine the hardness of the worlds but he reached out to me. He touched my hands. And smiled. And then turn right back around. The thing. Quiet. Unexpected. Amazing. Gray. With a simple touch. This man reminded me that i'm falling out of the grace of ease. Together we all fell into a life. Get still blessed with love. Unearned and freely given. We tumbled into a world of those contradiction and grace. So that even as love pulls us one way and pain pulls us the other. Somehow still. We do not shatter into a million pieces. By grace. Together. We love and our love. We find ways. Should be whole. James. We have already. 12th grade.

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20120212_do_you_have_the_wing_john_sermon.mp3

So married business man gets onto a winter overnight train. Bound from new york to chicago. And so does a rather attractive married woman. They meet at the door of a sleeping compartment to which they've both been assigned through some slip-up. And consult the conductor who tells him sorry trains full. Make the best of it. Initially a little awkward and embarrassed manage alright semantics the upper bunk the woman the lower they turn the lights out in after bit the guy said brr. I hate to bother you but it is cold could you possibly. Get a second blanket from the little closet down there. The woman replies. I have a better idea. You and i are never going to see each other again. No one will know. Why not pretend just for tonight. That we're husband and wife. Well. Wow sis the man. What a great idea jumping down. Now she says get your own damn blanket and take it back up there. If every sermon is inspired by a certain moment it was when i heard that joke. That i was reminded of the movie the princess bride one of my favorites. If only for the wedding scene. With peter cook is the presiding cleric. Settings. No inch. Marriage is what brings us together. That wasted months. And. 12. Wolves. Do you have to wait. Another movie with great send-up of weddings and clerics of course his four weddings and a funeral with hugh grant and andie macdowell glenn and i. Have been threatening for years. To do a funny book about congregational life. As we've experienced it. Into different denominations over 40 years. Add. Call it four funerals and a wedding. Don't worry will change your names. But like most clergy. The title really. Suggest that we prefer. A real. Honest. Down to earth. Even forgiving. People are in the face of death rather than dealing with anxious. Grooms and sometimes two of each. In the throes of romance. And wedding social pressures. This has been a mark. If i say 40 years since our own age. When is been known to save that for too long many men seem to think that marriage meant chiefly a steady supply of. Food sex and clean underwear. The only question being she would add in which department they were disappointed first. But in what is marriage for. The strange history of our most intimate institution. Published by our own decompress. About 13 years ago. Author ej graff. Who works with our own florence graves. Get up far more objective analysis. Tracing. The evolution. Of. Marriage is it just come to us complex motivations money and economics and kinship alliances. Companionship. Sometimes sex and reproduction. And then asking as a gay woman. At the end of every section. What could you explain to me one more time. Why marriage can't include. My beloved myself. Ej shortly after i became minister here got in touch with me and talked me into joining the national steering committee of freedom to marry. And for the last. Almost decade i've enjoyed helping to coordinate. The civil rights. Campaign for equal marriage. Putting aside the old. Saw that. Why should heterosexuals be the only ones who suffer. Or enjoy. When i be damn i was the only religious leader. And indeed the only non gay ally. In the effort. 10 years later all that is changed. The board. Now includes people like my friend jennifer brown who co-authored with her husband. A book called straightforward. How to mobilize heterosexual support for gay rights. My friend ignacio castaway at the reverend. A united methodist latino. Like me a grandpa. Ignacio is also national chaplain for. The freedom up for the planned parenthood federation of america. And italy. Fred garcia. Hey you you later. And leading communication strategic communications consultant. Whose wedding i did to his wife laurel. Years ago whose children i dedicated. When i served in new york city. I retire from my roll with you here in a few months. I'm also going to be relinquishing my leadership role. With freedom to marry. It's good to know that it's in good hands and honor roll. One of the things that i've learned from being married for 40 years. And i think when would testify too as well. Is that every good marriage has a range of commonality. The most basic and necessary being. In the realm of. Sheridan. Deep. Basic values. And. Depends on a range of differences. Orange. Other words every couple we have ever known straight or gay. Is in some sense the odd couple right. Why do we marry. Among other reasons. The balance out. To complete. Are wobbly little selves. For example on the myers-briggs personality test. When i come out is almost complete opposite does that surprise you. Cheetahs. What the test called c e n. Ffp. And i am and intj. Although i've massively overcompensated through being a minister. Those who know me well know i'm basically an introvert. Believe it or not. I refuel. Through contemplation. Reading. Quiet. Sometimes i even experience. Worship with all of you that way. Even preaching. Before i have to go out and face you and coffee hour. Which is the work of the morning. When is the next river. Tri refuels relationally. Face to face. On the phone. She's a feeler i'm a thinker. Thank god we have at least listen, we're both more intuitive than we are data-driven. Because without that we might never have found one another. Although we both have also ministered intuitively. To the rather well-educated data-driven. I know you will. By the way if you're facing valentine's day with that suppress feeling i'm not sure how much longer i can stand the differences that my spouse is displaying. We both recommend the author repeated prescription of you use psychologist mary pipher. Try getting up in the morning looking yourself in the mirror and saying several times you know. You're no prize either. And for those of you present who do not currently have a partner. The balance were to blame. Let me. Save this as well. When you look in the mirror. See yourself whole. Not partial. As you already are. Wbur at self raising money and selling roses has called valentine's day a great trap. What's subterfuge perpetrated by the greeting card industry florist sentimentalists. Even church youth groups. Trying to keep you from seeing. The truth that you are already whole. Even in some of your broken places. Where you are stronger than you know. Even in places where fear threatens to impede your full engagement. With living and loving and building friendships and life. Where perfectionism or. Social image came too easily blount your enjoyment of a life. In which you. Is imperfectly whole is all of us are. Can still. Be well not perfect. But as god is said to him called the creation of the beginning not just good. But with us human beings in it. In all of our imperfections actually very good. What told me to preach the sermon today was a remark by a friend who's now going through a divorce. I heard him say to his sons. Marriage is the most difficult thing you will ever undertake. And full of the most blessings. What the poet called the blind release itself. To the will of another. And the answering wise. Dispassionate. Restraint. Of the merger we call marriage. Truly does bring with it. Like lava cross to bear. And the stretching. Bet if we use it wisely. Makes us more open. Two more people. In more conditions at least three who have been expanding my heart i called them isabel in hannah and simon. Grandchildren. And i wonder at the miracle. That made it possible for them. To come into existence. For me to have met their grandmother. For my daughter to have met her wife anna. For my daughter erica to hit meth. Andy. Time is precious i heard an african-american woman. Say on mpr the other day she's a vet of the gang wars in chicago. And she was yelling at a younger woman in trouble. He promised to us. So make the most of it. You hear. She was not telling her. To be a live in the moment romantic. She was telling her. The practice. Compassion. And loyalty. And love. Even if she didn't have marriage. To unwrap her motherhood. By the way did you know that in massachusetts. Despite having done the first state in the union to accept. Same-sex marriage. We now have the lowest divorce rate. In the country. I would pass that note to rick santorum and others. Equality does not. Leave the family dysfunction. In the bible belt. Divorce rates are more than twice as high. But i also agree with a column by paul krugman this week. The real reason behind family breakdown in this country. Especially. In the working classes. Doesn't moral. Or even cultural. It is primarily economic and tied up with the fact that after world war ii. Men and women wanting to form families. Confined well-paying jobs almost regardless of education. They were willing to work hard. But that is not true. Vermillion's any longer. And women of all too often been blocked from. Which. As more and more have. Found open to them rolls once confined to men. But then found those rolls. Sometimes blocking them from fully expressing their deeper interlock. I think i might too. Dear friends and colleagues in ministry maryland sewell. Who might help the train who retired from the church in portland oregon where she often preached to 1,000 people leave sunday. Laurel holloman who succeeded me at the church in dallas. And who will speak here on. April 29th at my d installation service. Both of them. Hugely successful in ministry. Lived alone. For much of the time they serve their congregations. Laurel running to succeed my successor bill sinkford. Suu a president. Then method merida sometime needham resident larry ladd. Spurs the office. She. Now. Focuses. I'm loving larry. And vice versa. And marilyn leaving portland where she had often. Been in the public eye. Sharing elements of her own vulnerability and loneliness and struggle. Was asked by a filmmaker if he could film her daily life as a minister. From her morning devotions in her pjs to her meetings with dying parishioners. To her sermon preparations that might not be going to well. And then in the middle of the filming. Maryland who was nearing age 70. Matt george. Widower and architect helping the church with its master plan. For its downtown location. And he asked her out. In the film. That was made call draw faith. Maryland talks about. Growing up with a mother who is mentally ill. With a father who married five times. Whom she adored but who is alcoholic. But being raised by her grandparents in about wandering deep down. Even this administer whether she was worthy to receive love. As well as to give it. Yep knowing that nothing she has ever given. Has come from herself alone. Today's readings that we first heard those that will be shared at the last wedding i will do. As a minister here in massachusetts it'll be held at the memorial church in harvard yard. Those readings were selected by one of the wisest young couples i've met in recent years. Kia progressive catholic. Deeply devoted to social justice. Founder of an ngo in. Nicaragua. She. A progressive muslim. Family roots in turkey. Both sharing. A spirituality and wisdom that tells them that before we can love here on earth. We have to believe that we are loved. And know it. Not only. Foul ubly. Mortally. Button song. 10 spiritual sense. Enduring lee and eternally. We are lost. May your love for one another and larger embrace. So that second reading. To love people. The earth. Life. Yourselves. So i will tell them. It's a miracle that any of us it all are here. Through the magical mysterious merger. Sometimes. Often still known as marriage. The blind release of trust. Entrust of self in prayer to transcending time. And to the will of another. In hope of sharing a common sense of abiding value. The intuiting of a common source and an abiding destiny. Be sustained us. I'm so the intuition behind this i'd call to use the title of maryland film raw faith. It is what brings us here. The film by the way will be screened in harvard square at the cinema there at the end of this month. It is the simple story of having enough raw face. Don't let him a new and larger sense of love. Then one has been able to trust. Before. Whatever your condition. Married or unmarried. Met such a larger sense of love. Come into your heart. And soul this morning. And abide with you. And sustain you. And be passed on through you. To those in this world. Who need your. Whole. And loving press. So may it be.

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20120422_connecting_the_drops_john_sermon.mp3

It was a bright winter day. In the central valley of california. From where i was standing you could see the snowpack. On the mountains of the sierra nevada. But as in the valley in our parable this morning the hillsides. We're dry and parkston. Light brown. And i was listening to the local woman in front of me. Hold up. 2 clear plastic bottles of water. One was brown in color. The other much clearer. Guess which one of these water samples is more polluted she was saying. Everyone pointed to the bronner's bottle of course no no she said. That's the water that comes from the canal. About a mile away. The carrier's the snow melt from the mountains down the valley. Some of it gets pumped out. For irrigation by agribusiness. The rest gets the settlement settled out of it and treated for municipal use. In the population centers in southern california. Look a bit brown it's from the governor edmund g brown aqueduct. But it's actually fine. This clear sample. On the other hand she said. Is full of nitrates. From all the fertilizers. You can't see them. But they're there. And quite dangerous. The rate of birth defects around here blue baby syndrome premature birth other problems. And this sample comes from our local. Water system. Here was the. Rural community of seville california not to be confused with the cathedral town in spain for which it was named. Seville lies east of fresno. Where the board of trustees of our unitarian universalist service committee on which i serve. Gathered for its winter meeting. Our purpose. To meet with some of the people right here in the united states. With whom uusc partners. In its efforts to support the human right to water. As a basic human right. 4 years. Our hostess was saying. The public health department just told us to boil the water. But that only concentrates. The nitrates. Makes it worse. Water. Not a symbol as i said in. Dedicating emily rice this morning. Is the actual source. From which all life on this planet springs. The united nations says all governments have the obligation to ensure that everyone. Has quotes sufficient. Safe. Acceptable. Physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic use. We don't have that here. The average household income in our community is about. 15000. I'm on the school board. We are mostly agricultural workers. And we have to not only buy bottled water for our school. Because the children can safely drink it. We have to pay for the local well. That we can't drink from. They charge us an average of $70 a month. Beach house. I'm paraphrasing but she was well-spoken. We're standing in the yard of her home. Brick with fruit trees and flowers in the yard clearly lovingly tended. And i had what i can only describe as a kind of epiphany. Call connecting the drops. Drop one. I thought the human right to water was largely an issue in other countries. Drop to. That it was confined to places like the sahel. Countries of. Below the sahara in africa. Or the middle east. Drop 3. Or maybe in countries like bolivia ecuador. South africa tanzania. Where. Uusc. Works because national governments there in recent decades have private eyes. Their public water systems. Seeking capital to develop new water and sewer projects. They sold. Water rights. Do european and us based corporations. And gave them the right to raise the cost of water. Even before making much in the way of improvement or investment. Sometimes two levels that. Dwarf average incomes. Drop four. I knew that the urc have been working. Incident with citizen activists in such countries and often had helped them win back their basic human rights. Get the government involved in doing its job again. But drop five i did not know. Until this woman mentioned did that the un robert or for the human right to water had come to the united states and sighted us. Is all-too-often violating that right. And had been there in the central valley of california in particular. And drop 6. It was becoming apparent to me. That what happens in central california. Involves you and me. Because of agribusiness. Intensive agriculture. You and i when we go to the grocery store and. Purchase. Inexpensive orange juice and lemons. Apricots and peaches almonds and pistachios broccoli and lettuce. Dolphin feeling very. Proud and healthy of these things. Are disconnected. From where it all comes from. Or the many externalized cost. Like those nitrates from fertilizers. But make what we buy so inexpensively. Expensive for the people who grow them. Drop 7 on my way back to fresno we were strolling the single largest source. Of nitrates in the drinking water of communities like seville. From a so-called organic source. The dairy farms. Over 1,000. Many huge. With nitrate laden waste pools. Draining into the groundwater. First flood of realization. The image of that tv commercial of the contented california dairy cows. Grazing on the green. Hillsides. Ha. Ds. Concentrated. In 1000. Crowded. Dairy farm. Bucket one. No i understood why the uu legislative ministry in sacramento. Had joined us at the service committee board meeting. Enjoying the local activists to try to pass and state legislation. About the human right to water putting the state. Back in charge of water quality. When for rural communities. Managed it for themselves. Buckets. Now i understood why you usc and it's a national campaign got water. Asks each of us. Wherever we live. To become more aware of where our water comes from. And where it goes. I was cracking earlier that i preached about water and i suspect it's going to rain. But where will the runoff. Emma storm go. Just today. The massachusetts water resource agency of the epa announced that the water quality in the charles. Is worse than it was. A few years ago. Largely because of runoff. From towns like ours. Surrounded on three sides. By the charles river. If someone said while i was in california you think water. Flows downhill. Only dirty water. Clean water it seems. Flows uphill. To those who have the power. And the money. Bucket 3. Climate change dry winters here. Boy we need the rain. Dry out on the west coast. Snow syndrome people freezing in the ukraine flooding elsewhere can anyone still doubt that human activity based on. Carbon fuels. Has contributed to these. Increasingly difficult changes in climate all i know some do bucket for. Last july i went with an interfaith group of massachusetts religious leaders. Catholic protestant jewish-muslim unitarian universalist. Under the auspices of the environmental group massachusetts interfaith power & light. Not a great name. An organization. Of which our congregation is. A founding member. Went to meet with our junior us senator scott brown. Well not only was senator brown unable to find the time to meet personally. With representatives of the vast majority of people of faith in this commonwealth. But his staff. Sewed. No sign. Of comprehending our message. Looks as head of the senators boston office you religious people have already won the moral argument. About the environment. But now market forces will take care of the rest. He went on to tell us how much cleaner. The water in the boston harbor in the mystic river where he grew up. Now is. Excuse me i said. We text ourselves to do that. We raised our water and sewer rates. The senators opposed to more taxes he reply. Well it's not a carbon. Tax help cap-and-trade. That's a market solution. No. No not that either. This memory brings me another. Epiphany. What is it. That prevents people from connecting the drops. Damn one. Etiology. Ridgid individualistic etiology. Is a barrier to any form of ecological thinking. That understands. Art interdependence. Not only with one another but with the earth. It's simple and simplistic. What happens to others to those people in seville california none of my concern. It has naught to do with me. Damn 2. A form of neo racism. No not the legalized segregation or colonialism that still in force that was still in force when i was growing up. Just it's newer adaptation. Last week on pbs bill moyers interviewed. California activists angela grover blackwell. Who lives in oakland. Her analysis. Those with power. Upstream. Fail simply to emphasize or identify with. The people often color. Who live with the consequences. Do their actions. And this is true not only here in the united states still. But also in global dynamics. Damn 3. Class division. Well if some romaine for it's because they don't work hard. Everyone by now surely has an equal chance look at me. I made it. Meanwhile some children. Like those in the school in seville. Slowly sink to the bottom. Obsess pools that our society has tolerated. And that they are being raised in not to that their parents lack of effort. Or ability. Just a lack of environmental and economic justice. Damn 4th. In a culture so decadent that is dominated by cruel competition on so-called reality tv and buy. Political sideshows polarization. Nobody roots for the losers. Mitchell. And drown. Well many watch. Even laugh. After all what can be done. Me speaking up. Well that would be just. A drop in the bucket. I don't know about you. But i grew up in an environment was one thing. Human rights. Another. And all too often they were presented as competing i remember when a labor union in nearby new bedford massachusetts serious with the epa for refusing a permit. For a new european funded. Chemical plant. Printed bumper stickers that said. Hungry and out of work. Eden environmentalist. But that sentiment snot all over is it. Perhaps if more people could connect the drops. Imaginatively. Spiritually. Empathetically. They see that we're not just individual drops in the bucket. Rather we are all in the same boat. Together. And then i recalled that it was only last week after 10 years here among you that i first actually. Got around to tell you from the pulpit of some of my own blue-collar background. My father never got to go to college. But designed and built boats. How i work my way through college sailing summers on the huge industrial age boats that carry pelletized iron ore and coal in limestone up and down the great lakes. And that. Just. Represented another. Psychosocial damn. But i think often prevents us. From hearing the stories. Of people. Who have seen. What the reality. Interconnection is. You try to connect the drops. I know. Are sometimes dismissed these days as socialist. White last week a congressman from. Florida outrageously used the term communist. To describe 72. Members of the us house of representatives. Because they belong to the progressive caucus. Despite the fact that to a person they like me believe. Yes we believe in private ownership. Just not of the air we breathe. Oracle water we drink. Nor of the right to send our waste products. Downstream to others with impunity. Such remarks remind me. Of mccarthyism. For i grew up. In the state of wisconsin when that. Demagogue. Senatorial presents. Once came to the shipyard. Where my father. Adult. About for the navy. His wife to christen it. I've never forgotten my mother telling us all that she despised mccarthy. As quote. Nothing but another self-made man who just worships his own creator. My ma. The theologian. The truth my friends. Is that we are all in this boat together. Children of gaia. God. The great mystery. We are here educated. And working class. White and black and hispanic asian and miscellaneous. Christian jew humanist agnostic atheist progressive and libertarian. Though the latter might be loath to admit it. There is a planet. We live on. Mark chiefly by its. Bluegreen beauty. And fragility. And its life-giving. Water. The question before us. It seems to me. Is the same one that's so long ago. Was written in the book of deuteronomy. God sets. Before us this day. Good and evil. Life and death. And urges us to choose life. But we and our children and our children's children. And all our great-great-grandchildren. Might still inhabit. This watery. Life-giving. Beautiful earth. Our home. And how. Do you choose. Begin. By breaking the dam. And connecting.

uuneedham_org

031012_Recap--Economic_&_Core_Religious_Values.mp3

Well good morning and thank you for joining us again at the first parish for a. Another forum in the series on critic anomic issues and enduring. Human values. Holiday weekend i thought that what we would do today would be. To focus on. And get some input for some future sound program. Weak in the past and that it might be useful to. Just review who we have what topics we have taken up and who's been here. Eman get a little of your your input. Right after labor day with a. Set of reflections based on a book by robert nelson. Phenomx religion. A professional economist himself. Doing what i might describe as a kind of the bunkie of the notion of. Economics is dad you free science. And a very trenchant analysis of the. Ways in which wall. Mathematical models of marketplaces can. I'll provide us with a lot of. Predictive capacity within certain limits. Hutch right on the boundaries of a wider. Society with its values. And even the interplay between the marketplace in the wider society comes into. Questions. Nelson was predictable too good at talking about the way in which. Economic models that have been favored kind of a. Set of assumptions about human nature in the sand. What's possible in society that he described as being space to sort of a natural law theory. 20mm work for radical individualism. And he's characterized that is kind of a shift from. Something akin to us. Catholic. Small seed. Notions of values. Typical american protestant individualism. Entrepreneur turned minister. Apple is now. Right after he was with us was approved for ordination and fellowship of the unitarian universalist minister. He's doing his internship at first-person watertown but. Has been working again. In business circles for a number of years an inconsistent intends to continue. Address really the corporate scandals. And issues of a business ethics in today's world i think the most memorable phrase. But he used if you'll recall was that was the one about how adult supervision. Is necessary. Almost all areas of corporate life. From boards that really do their oversight work. With the executives including a compensation issues. I2. People who do a regulation of marketplaces so that they are indeed. Bear. About economics. But get this down. To a kind of. Very childlike or almost premoral. Level of functioning with one another where is some. I'm about as good as it gets is you scratch my back and i'll scratch yours. And i loved a gym. Notions. Economic activities if they're going to. Something other than destructive. Values are going to require. About some adult supervision. Let's see who came in right after turbo. Oh yeah. Professor charles gerber from boston college with his. Really. Radical analysis of the interplay between. A corporate economically power and our. The politics. And the phases the fastest gone through. I like a number of commentators including people like kevin phillips. All the republicans. A political historian the social historian i think derbur is really feels that. We're reaching kind of a dangerous high water mark. Corporate economically influence in. Political settings where the things are going to come crashing down. One way or another indeed i think you could analyze some of these. A scandal like the fall of the. President of the new york stock exchange for. Black of transparency is with his. Very very high. Compensation. As representing some of that wealth and democracy. Talks about the sea increasing multiples. Also. Difference between average workers and most highly compensated. Ceos and warren. Even leaders in the republican party that unless something is done. Particularly with tax policy. To prevent that the gap from widening even further. They're going to see what kind of populist. A reaction. That may in fact. Put some. Restrictions on the economy would not be. Comfortable. Gerber like a little dialogue at the end of that session about whether he could really see a populist reaction coming or whether it was more likely that we get something like these of progressive movement. With a kind of attempts within the business community teddy roosevelt. How to. I just moderate the greed. And i think that remains. And open. Political question. After derber. Chuck collins. That's the week i was away so give me a brief summary of what the what truck had to say he's the fellow who co-authored. The books on wealth that are commonwealth with wooden gate senior making a case for. Packing of accumulated wealth. But he's also the founder of united for a fair economy so i suspect he talked about more things than the inheritance tax. Moana. With help from all of you that we're here what i recall as he demonstrated. Radically different change between peoples earning relearning power. Over the last fifteen or twenty years showing that the people who really had the most wealth to start with. I think it was. And. I think he also use that to make a case about why there should be an inheritance tax and why the people with more money to contribute more but. Beyond that i would have to say i can't remember a lot of specifics about what he said. Somebody else want to add to that. Sometimes arguments. Get me flashings with of pieces of inherited. Biblical wisdom. One of the lines in the in the gospels that often goes on remember. Play some kind of sound. Resigned and cynical when he says. Spell gain more. And those who have little. They have shall be taken away from them. Remember that one. Interpreters have been puzzling over that. It's unclear whether he's making a statement about economic realities or whether it's a more spiritual paradoxical. Stan lynn julie nelson. The last week. Helping out perspective i think the two things that stood out for me were her. Mark this as much as a third of the world's economy. Is unpaid work. Muppet it performed by one. That. Looking at things from an economic point of view. Finally made me understand some of the. Here. Genomic reasoning behind of societies that tried to perpetuate. A patriarchal structures. It's a way of keeping the people who do the caregiving for free. Doing it for free. And then. I truly had a. The forces that keeps people to we're doing spacek caregiving in our society so. Tremendously underpaid whether their turn for our children or for our elders. In this series has been on trying to speak with people like shock or ginger bloemer. Dr. nelson for that matter who have been actively engaged in trying to do to make things better. So that we're not just engaged in a heated awful efforts here. Let me mention a few people who are coming up. Next week october 19th. Is where the focus will be on housing issues and housing affordability and very blue stone. Northeastern will be here. A major report from the center on urban and regional policy. At at northeastern. One of us is the context for that i think. It gets argued about a lot in town slightly them. Over particular project. In which a lot of them are tremendously concerned about whether the lack of affordable housing isn't cycling the overall. The week after that we're going to have. Lawrence glad. Who is. Actually one of your denomination. He was right here needham. For the unitarian universalist association. We're used to be the budget director at harvard university and the chief financial officer at ub. Is now a consultant to higher education across the country. But what he's going to be talking about is. Shareholder democracy. And corporate social responsibility. One of the things that i learned when i was at the uua was this. You know. Africa or don't buy tobacco stock. Keep your hands clean. Approach. Managing stock portfolio. Cuz actually of shifted a good deal. The interfaith center for corporate responsibility. Has led the movement encouraging people. To try to change the policy. Corporations by. Initiating. Stockholder. Action. At their nether annual meeting and i had the privilege of. Several of these things. Where the whole range of nonprofits got together. And decided to vote their stock and some of america's leading companies. In favor of more progressive. My favorite one was changing the. Non-discrimination policies of home depot. They had no. Corporate non-discrimination policy and we're facing. A number of lawsuits from female and. Lesbian employees. Systemic. Discrimination and when. America's more progressive. Religious communities and unions and a number of other organization. Led by the uua initiated a stockholder action at their annual meeting. Management decided that the public relations. A battle was not going to be worth it then baby. Instituted the other policies. That were asked for even before the meeting. This kind of thing is going on increasingly larry's right at the front edges of. Watching how it's developing and he'll be with us to talk about that the week after that we move into healthcare. I think all of us. Sanchez the tremendous. To our values. Yacht in today's world and philippe sellers. Who founded families usa. Purpose president of its foundation. Will be with us still has them. Bennett successful inventor and entrepreneur himself and has poured literally tens of millions of his own money. Into trying to start a grassroots organizations that would effectively. Represent ordinary american. And the debate about. Restructuring and reforming our healthcare system. Families usa is the largest and most important consumer-oriented. A healthcare lobbying washington. Pill. As president of the foundation picked up their educational. Everybody's going to be with us on that occasion. The following week after that we have an invitation out to. The project leader from the women's educational and industrial union. Boston. The agency in this area that's kind of leaving the struggle for looking at what a sustainable wage is. For a family a living wage. As we've gone through the transition from welfare to work. I'm awful lot of people at the low-income and have them left. At minimum wages that are not enough. To sustain. A family on. Down. If we're going to have a society in which we. Attempt to care for. The children of our poorest citizens are most vulnerable. People then we've got to take a look at what what what is a sustainable. Waiting. How do. At least more enlightened employers and municipalities and government entities. I'll think about those things i was the part of the. Protest at harvard few years ago about the wages but that university was paying it to a janitorial custodial employees. I'm here that i first checked. But after you you way we were paying a decent wage. Before i charged over to with. Whack a righteous list of my alma mater. About what they were doing. Interesting lee enough you notice they changed their policies as well. As a result of. The values issue. Call dee lifted up. I'm by people who character. Question social solidarity. And then we're kind of open. they're probably all kinds of possibilities of things that you would like to see us engaged there are a couple of things that does occur to me that are more broadly about. But let me forget your suggestions for specific topics or speakers or. From. My perspective the central. Topic of the entire series. Economic and. Religion. There are. I'd really economics and morality. There are some major. Back that i think are central and weave. On a couple of them repeatedly and we're sort of dabbling around the edges of the third. One major facts is that. And local there are enormous. A gap between the rich and poor growing. But you aren't you are on the right side and more and more on the poor side. Another. Has been presented by at least a couple of speakers by implication is that economics. Spell call. Form of math. Because it allows you to do this completely bloodless mathematic. And ignore any. Possible. Morrow. Implication. Weave. Logic stand up voided coping with. When you have. A major income gap. In order to sustain it. You always have to have some form of coercion. That. Classical. Immorality of wise theft and murder. Are required. Stain and unfair economic system. Patriarchy. But we didn't quite come out and say it. Demand for regine chang. Because. A notion that c. The government has been co-opted by corporations. Power. But. I want to go. Workouts at worldwide. As an institution. People are not. Or having salmon. Making greater publicity for this aware that there are now more slaves in the world than in the past. And a lot of it. Prime. Set economic exploitation. When is. Accompanied by the destruction of social solidarity. Tyranny. And why. I think is a central. Regarding the economy. And it's one that's been carefully swept under the rug by. Current. And i think we as a society really need to address it. Become. About it. Because they. I think the central connection between economics and morality is this. That in order to exploit someone economically you end up. Corking them. That. Income gap. Require. Directly and obviously immoral support. I've spoken several times in this room. Turkish president. One of the people is that the general assembly speaking about the resurgence. Flavors was my friends avec. Who won the world anti-slavery award at my nomination. Been dealing with people. Cool i've often find themselves indebted. The landlord. Multiple local money lender. And if there's a death in the family. Your burial cuffs. Go borrow money from the. From the landlord. At such a coercive. What it interest rate. And the death is passed on from generation to generation so that people are in effect. They're tied to the land inside the van. What is going on increasingly. In the most vulnerable populations in asia. And in africa. And. It's a kind of manifestation of. Really demonic. Aspect. Race-to-the-bottom. Globalization. While you were speaking george that's in the middle of november there's going to be. Pig. A gathering about free trade. In miami. We're at the i think we'd be missing an opportunity if we didn't do a little reflection on the. Free trade versus fair trade. Debate. Real. Questions is always define fair. How do you find the buffering mechanism. It's it's. That's the stupid being effective about it i have been frankly less than impressed. With the furtive. More utopian. Protest 12. Protest globalization in general which i regard as hurt as like protesting. The weather. Stop we're in an increasingly interdependent world. How we're going to help people. Impact of. Economic integration. And um. Create. Sustainable society. World is rapidly shifting is a real puzzle to me. And i think we probably need at least one program. Bedtime. Deals with international trade issues. Explicitly. Really have no raise that much at all. And obviously one of the things that we're all aware of it that weekend up kind of. Exporting. And importing. Exploitation. In this process if we're not very careful. Exploitation of the environment exploitation of labor. And the cow. Example was very clear and saying this from where he sits. As of as an investor. The job that many people like unitarian universalist hold. In the next generation all being shipped overseas. Starting to go on that with those you mentioned your company, some of us all to be engineering's all be done in india or. Graduated engineer. My interests are environmental and energy related. How many things did george said particularly using words like murder and lies. Panorama calendar discussion on but it gets to the point little bit. More correctly. And there are books out now about criticizing right-wing big lies and. Al franken's broken saw on the table in a little bit more start turn. Lying liars to tell him something. A reaction of point loma. Matter of scientific martinez marginalization of value. Trying to describe what they are but environmental damage. An economy. Unreasonable. And how can we value the commons and. And marketing and. Pollution credits. All things like that. What happened. A way to put a meter on the sun then we'll see solar energy happen. And that factors what's been happening over the past five years with the renewable energy trust fund but unfortunately what it's led to is a is a distortion of the original value. We're working to produce electricity and it's the most expensive least efficient way to go. Energy efficiency and conservation and. You remind me of a little bit. Economic. And bring them to the cities for us at 1 that i have heard this week. On an npr program was ipod for particularly striking. It had to do with. A set of tax credit. That went into the federal tax code. During the energy crisis of the 1970s. When we were discovery concerned. About trying to produce. New forms of energy. And surprise surprise it's a. Set up tax credit. Turning. Kohl's. Fossil fuels worth. Well. They never really did figure out how to do this. But the tax credit was written so broadly that you as they said on the download. Program corn syrup over the coal. Say that you said. Modified entitle you to the credit. Last year. Or billion-dollar. The federal treasury. True corporation. Setting up non productive. Effort. The modify. Canada they did something similar. Where they have tar sands. In the western provinces that are very hard. Turn into. Bigfoot in some effective tax credits for that process and it's actually working and we're buying that oil. Here in the united states. But at the same time. We're essentially wasting. 4 billion dollars in federal. Tax credit. Something that doesn't produce any more. Boiler energy for our society. It's just another. Loophole. And at the same time you'll get the argument while you couldn't possibly change the text code to benefit. Sustainable energy sources because that would. Don't get me started on that. And yet we continue to f****** subsidized i have to concede the existing industries. There's another article i ran across this week this was in the new york times of. But think about mid-week this one kind of goes to the the whole question of. What economically. And what kind of number of particularly about. Aspects of public finance. The title of the article is it's even worse than you think. And it's about the differing ways to percent. The federal. Budget inn. Accumulating. We all know that. Closed. Week or two ago at the beginning of october. Total deficit came in at almost 400. A billion dollars. Pushing the federal debt that's held. By publix. Because the surface has this article points out there are probably. Three different ways of actually analyzing. Even the current. Deficit. As it's reported. The 400 billion-dollar deficit includes. Money that was poured into. The federal coffers by. Your withholding and mine. For our social security taxes. To the tune of another 160 billion dollars or so. So if you. Go back to the infamous lockbox. And try to treat social security as. Something separate from zaxby's. General operations of the government the real deficit with 560. The other thing that went on this past years because we are continuing to neglect the accumulating. Obligations of the social security system. Which are running ahead. Of the tax revenue as you and i. Benefit from healthcare advances in our lives. Actuarial numbers that we're going to live longer and the number of workers. Sticking into the system. Drop through unemployment in denville life. If you've been dealt with the the accumulating liability. The same way that some corporations are being forced to deal with accumulating liabilities in their pension system. The real deficit for this past year with the increase in the social security shortfall. Was 930 billion-dollar. Questions that the article basically. Don't you think the chickens are going to come home to roost rather sooner. Then some. Ar. Predict. The last sentence i thought was interesting. The government is increasingly in the business of making long-term promises. Until it adopts principles of accounting that recognized. Promise. And their cost. The federal budget will remain the most misleading documents in washington. And that's saying a lot. It would seem to me that in all likelihood one of the things that we might want to. The scot since it's going to affect everyone of us. Is indeed something having to do with. Plan. The deal with the social security system. Papa chris. Resume. Had about trini, tissues. The number. Organizations on social security reform. What are the things after that i thought more about that's what chuck collins said that intrigued me was you know he did a lot of emphasis on the inheritance tax. And i'm sitting there thinking well that's great we all rally with that because that's not something most of us are going to have to pay. Federal way to make a case for how we had all benefited. Public institutions that we didn't have to pay much for. He gave his own example of you know how i went to public high schools. I don't remember how he went to college but he said that he know he graduated without much debt. And he also talked about the great parental loan assistance program that he and his wife were heading from so that they can afford to buy housing. I'm part of this looking at. What's our responsibility as a generation to think about what do we do to educate the generations behind us. And to give them those same kind of opportunities that enabled us to get to where we are. I also really talk about that without post-secondary education people are not going to be able to participate. In a knowledge-based economy so. I think there's some issues in there that would be interesting to think about and it might come back to text policy john i'm not sure but. Those are things that struck me about what he had to say. He also talked about the gi bill and how we need another gi bill desperately and he also talked about getting no money to the public schools. So that you keep. Ecologist you know where they can get ahead. And how unfair it was. Mayam. My one-time parishioner in new york city till the end chula. Is an economist. Papa's written on. A book entitled when the bough breaks. The cost of neglecting america's children. In which she pointed out that historically. The generations that i was raised in the post-war baby boom generation. Received an enormous amount. Public subsidization in our upbringing. The post work. Politics works dodge. Marginal tax rate. We're very progressive. The high taxes on the well-to-do. Were used. Subsidized things like the gi bill. How to make it possible for. Returning veterans to go to college with virtually no expense. A buildup. Public education system. Not to a level that it is never. And to make available the financing for people going to college i went when i went through college even though i went. A private university with. Scholarship assistance. I think virtually every year i was there i was either on federal work-study. Twist subsidized. Or getting some form. Loan assistance. And proportional turn. Child-rearing in child education. Even the value of the tax credit. On the sign on the income tax form. People raising. Two children are more in the early 1950s. Who were. Unless they were quite high-income didn't much pay taxes. Because the child credit was. Such as if it were that level now it would be i think of about $7,000 per child. And then they just raised the tax credit for child to. Was it 800. 50. Yeah it's not very much. I'm so those those are. Some interesting observations. This is them. Another issue that sort of been hiding in the issues we've been talking about. Not only is there a growing concentration of wealth in. Ann arbor small fragment of the population. But there is a growing concentration of market share in a tiny number of corporations so that we're seeing increasing monopolize ation of major market. And. A radical change. Directly to the whole issue of economic power because keeping out. Other company. By whatever means necessary. And. You no longer have a free market. What are the consequences of global trade. Is. Small number of global companies company. I think free market catalyst just don't talk about. I think i am. But it's clearly. Important. We are a religious community something. Tyson signature. Address. Petite deliberate undermining of us as a community a woman's issue. About tour people as if none of us had any investment a responsibility for each other resulting in. I've heard people say. Which the answer is because you helped one of her children who isn't yours that you're educating is going to be your doctor when your old navy. Perhaps looking for ways that we can bring back the sense of it. It is in our best interests to be responsible for. Reminds me of a parable that was told by martin buber. At a united nations conference in the. Perhaps we should remember that at the beginning of. The modern world. Play at the time of the french. In american revolution. It was said that there were three ideals that were to walk hand-in-hand. Liberty. Equality. And what the french then called. Fraternity but which we might translate in a human kinship. Or solitary. The tragedy of the last two centuries. Has been the separation of a side deal. Quality east. Character. Through a series of revolutions. And became the submergence of the individual in a facebook collective. And szetela terrier state. With their gulag. And the masses all waving the same little red book. And became demonic. Liberty he said went wet. Primarily to america. And it also change this character. It became an irresponsible freedom. A freedom to exploit. The earth. And other human beings. Without any sense of longer-term consequences. Struggle in the 20th century. Struggle. To reunite the separated. Whether it was dr. king civil rights movement. Trying to. Quality of opportunity. Into the. Life of. A society that prided itself on. Free while keeping some people virtually. Or whether it was lex alenza and the solidarity movement in poland. Trying to bring some modicum of human dignity and send. Freedom. Back into an egalitarian but totalitarian world. He said both of these kinds of movement. We're tapping into. The element that has gone missing. That sense of humor attention. Where did it go. It went into hiding. Oppressed communities. Usually. Capitalize. By their religious. Of all being children. I think that that's a profound historical interpretation. Of what we've been through and it is also in no small part of a hookah. I kind of story-based. Justification for a religious community. Contemplating these kind of meta historical. Issues that have to do with the use of power. And the abuse of power. Including economic power. Darebee workout in our lifetime. In ways that are found. Have gone beyond bloopers metaphor. No question about that today it's not east-west it's more north-south. In the world. The battle. That's out at the big. Struggles are unquestionably between like the last of a big discussion of the. Cancun meeting. Are our discussions. I broke down over the next. Spell stages of. Activity the world trade organization. They broke down. Because. The south. The undeveloped world. In the name of fairness. Said to the powerful in developed countries of the world. The way in which you subsidize your agriculture. While asking us to take. Your technological and intellectual. Property. From drugs to computers to. Financial services in the zillion other things. Just open our borders to. You shut up. The very things that we could fairly traded in return. Artificially propping up. The price of. The basic commodities that we have. Literally trade. And them. It's a little hard.. But it's. It becomes one of the baby meta issues. That's working itself out. Global economy. Very good. Any last thoughts. The gi bill did not give give money. So we might want to think about including inside this series is some reflections on. Local lb finance i we we are facing about. Override. On those on high school i was just reading in the pimlico blessed section this morning. The estimates of what that will do to your property taxes in mine and i must say i gulped. I have been struck by how many fights how many decisions by. Voters. Have put. The whole question of trying to deal with taxes. Intelligence. In some difficulty. Not just california. Where are the seeds from. Initiative referendum process has. Creative kind of log jam. Mike. Observation about. Sounds like needham 7 gonna relatively poor job in recent years of planning for capital investment. In school are public buildings. United states in the commonwealth. Limiting. The ability of these. Local leaders to. All that. Current. In their communication even with us. About about major project. And shoving a lot of. The cost of a phone. Major things always into the future. Until finally they become further critical. I think it's going to be faced with a debate over whether. Failure to renovate the high school threatened. Debary. A tractor. That has fueled. The rise in property values in town. Or. Weather severe the burden of. Additional taxation is more than the voters want to take on. I'm glad you brought the issue back support of the town that reminds me of the. So that's one way of getting real situation like. How does all this feed into the economics at the church what's the cash flow like leave the prep we were just told at the property committee no don't worry about there's money around now for a change. I think we're going to have a congregational meeting. On the 7th of december. That'll be tied to this vision mission process and probably some update about the big picture in that regard. Will be. Pinewood. Struck me about being ministers this congregation actually is that's kind of like the town. Efforts over the last. Couple of generations actually to deal with the major. Capital issues. Impulsive. Has he been there. Building hasn't been. Significantly. Renovated or even made energy-efficient as you well know. Since 1954. That's a long time. Water. Thanks again we'll see you next week with very blue stone so i think we'll be quite interesting thanks for taking part.

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20111224_silent_night_sermon_christian.mp3

So i realize this isn't going out way out on a limb but i love the him silent night. Which will saying in just a few minutes. Such a beautiful ham so peaceful it's such a wonderful way to finish the service like this. On this holy night the night before christmas. I'm sure probably some of you know some of its history to. Whether any of that history is actually true or not. That poor music director whose organ broke just before christmas leaving him scrambling to find some music he could play for the service has accompanied only by his guitar. I'm told that the historical truth of this story is a little questionable cuz at least part of the him was performed. A year earlier when the oregon was working perfectly fine. But i embrace the story none the less. In that it's a little bit like what john told us about christmas earlier. I don't know if there was a very special baby born in a manger on a cold night in a little town in judaism 2000 years ago. But the story is worth embracing. It's the story of a powerful idea coming to life. In the unlikeliest of places. To a poor family in a roman backwater. Little bit of. Nowhere. The story is so captivating that i don't really care if it's true in that historical sense. It's true in my heart. And much the same i love silent night. And i love it. But i always kind of wondered about it too. Because surely that night couldn't really have been very silent right. I mean. There's a baby being born which. I haven't had our first yet it's not till april but. I'm told that can be kind of loud. And of course. There's the animals around and all those shepherds who i'm guessing weren't the quietest people ever. And angels singing above and playing their hearts. And probably other family members about because i went there to see joseph's family anyway right on. There's nothing like extra family members around when you're trying to give birth to a baby i'm sure. Is short none of this ever sounded very much like silence to me. I working i'm working up a new verse for the song. Which i don't have very much voice tonight but. Stay with me. Moms in pain cry. Shepherds. Angels play. When will it snow. Okay so it's a little ways to go but you see where i'm going. So just when was the silence that's what i want to know i assumed it must be talking about after the birth when mom and baby were probably asleep and justifiably so. Joseph to i assume. And maybe the shepherd's finally laughed and the angel choirs liked aunt down the volume on the singing at least. And you know that historical reality pops up again in my mind because i'm told that the greek word we often hear translated as in. Didn't mean a commercial in cuz bethlehem liz. Too small for that anyway. But rather it was more like a second room in the house of joseph's relatives where the animals were brought out of the cold to stay the night. Mary and joseph in the baby were there and probably with some of those animals. But even after everybody was asleep i can't imagine it was that silence. Because i've noticed more than ever lately that are on nights aren't that silent either. I used to sleep like a log. And i usually still do but not always. And these days when i wake up at night. I noticed more than ever how not silent it is. I hear the cars and trucks rumbling by on the nearby streets. Sometimes i hear the sounds of our neighbors we live in a very small apartment complex and they all have back decks with their out on sometimes. I hear the cats and the birds. I hear my wife rolling over trying to find a comfortable pose to sleep in as our baby still inside her. Kicks away with. Force you would not believe in her belly. So it's not silent. And i'm guessing some of you have had the same experience. But that's what i love about this time of year especially. It can be crazy and chaotic. As our families come to town or we go there. Or perhaps we have friends over for a special meal. Or we come here to this community speed together. So this i think it's the real message that i find today in christmas. Not some silent night not some perfect. Imagine thing. But the real joy and the messy beauty. Of our lives as they are our lives together. Our lives as they can be. So this holiday season. I wish you all the joys and the pains of community. I wish you all the joyful noise. That comes with relatives and friends. With crying babies and. That loud anchalee you can't get rid of. I wish you this weather those those people are in your house or on the phone or video chat. Here in this community or far far away. I wish you all the merriest of christmases from this community. For each of us are held dear is family whether we're related or not. And finally. Just at the end. Late at night when we're all tucked in our beds. I wish you just a piece a bit of peace and quiet to. And may it be so for you. For me. And for all of us this christmas season.

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20121224_christmas_eve_katie_lee_sermon.mp3

Good evening and welcome on this christmas eve it is my pleasure that. You are all here this evening those of you who are familiar faces then. Those of you from nearby and far away. Philip come to visit tonight. My name is the reverend katie lee crane and i'm the interim minister here. And it's my pleasure to share this evening with you. Since the dawn of time. People have celebrated the longest night of the year. With light. And fire and thanksgiving. They've learned. That the darkest and the longest night marks the turn of the year. The time when the son the giver of warmth and light. Turns back from death. And grows strong again. And the turning of the year as a promise of. Renewing life. The sun will climb to the heavens again in the darkness will be pushed back each day. As people will once again walk the greening earth. And shoots will burst from the seed in the young will be brought forth from the womb. It is in the midst of winter. The promise is given of the summer season. In the midst of the darkness. Come the assurance. Of light. I bring you this blessing from the celtic tradition. This day may our souls be kindled with the blessing of winters returning light. May the blessing of truce. Beyond our tongue. The blessing of earth kinship. About our being. The blessing of serenity in our minds. The blessing of gratitude in our heart. And may the blessing of peace be upon all being. This day. And everyday. Someone knows exactly when or at what time of year. Jesus was actually born. But long after his death stories of his birth were collected and written down. The growing christian church wanted to celebrate his birthday. And so the church fathers decreed that it should be at the time of the most beloved and universal festival. In the experience of all peoples in the world at the time. The mid-winter celebration. The festival's of light. And so the new celebration of jesus's birth was added to the old ones the old festival. I need snooze stories focus. On a child. Born in a manger. From the wisest ones visited. And about whom all of the angels. Sang. People collected stories from many times in many places been told and retold the christmas story and tails and song and poetry. Each adding its magic to the meanings of christmas. Reading from luke chapter 2 verses 1 through 16. In those days a decree went out from emperor augustus that all the world should be registered. All went to their own town to be registered. Joseph also went to the city of david called bethlehem. To be registered with married to whom he was engaged and who's expecting a child. While they were there the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth. And laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the end. In that region there were shepherds living in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel stood before them and said to them afraid. 4c. I bring you good news of great joy for all people. To you is born this day in the city of david a savior who is the christ. The messiah. This will be a sign for you you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth. And lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly host praising god. And saying. Glory to god in the highest and peace to all people on earth. This reading is from the book of matthew book 2. Chapter 2. Verses 1 through 11. When the angels had left them the shepherd said to one another. What is go to bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place. So they went with haste and found mary and joseph and the child lying in the manger. It was in the time of king herod after jesus was born in bethlehem. That wise men from the east came to jerusalem. Asking where is this child has been born king of the jews. For we observe the star at its rising a come to pay him homage. When herod heard this. He was frightened. He sent them to bethlehem saying. Go and search diligently for the child and when you have found him bring me word. So that i may also go and pay him on it. When they heard the king they set out. And there ahead of them went to star that they had seen its rising. Until it stopped over the place with a child was. They were overwhelmed with joy. And a meltdown. And paid him homage. Deborah kerr. Is a contemporary unitarian universalist minister. This is a knife for keeping. For keeping watch for those who are on a journey. Travelers. Known and unknown. Winning through the stars in flames. Walker. With paxful. On their backs. For keeping watch. For all. Who are on a journey. Is a knife for keeping. For keeping close to your heart. Precious. Randolph ultimate worth. The nicest. Bubbalou's closer. To the ones. This is a night to remember. What is most important. Which is not anything that can be made. Or both. But love. Thunder hole. Enjoy. And the deep dark peace and stillness. But holds it all. Oh. This is a night for keeping. For keeping a room in your heart. Open for surprise. And wonder. You're bruised or. Photos held too much. Known too much. Too much. For keeping your heart open. 4 through the opening of your heart. Something magnificent. There's trying. Tubi. Bored. Christmas is the festival of giving and sharing. It's a time of secrets and surprises. Gifts chosen with loving care. And shared with joy. The child. Himself. Was a gift. To his parents into the world. Which is a better place because he lived. And the story we tell about the birth of that child is a gift. The gifts of christmas are the gift of life itself. End of love. Which makes life possible. They are the gifts of. Song grace. Beauty. The gifts of sharing the best we have to give. This christmas. I pray that i have the courage. To give the best of myself to those whom i love. And also. To those who need love. This christmas i remind myself. That's what i have to give does not need. Rapping sort rapping. No need it be limited to a day. Or a season. The best gift i have to offer. Are a helping hand. A compassionate gesture. There are the gifts of just showing up. I'm walking with. Being there for someone who needs support. This christmas. I pray. That i give lavishly. Of my presents. All year long. And christmas is a festival of joy. It's a time of feasting and fun. I'm singing and visiting friends and family reunited. It's the time of glittering trees and lighted houses of stockings and presents. Fires in candles. And stories of an infant in a manger. It's a time when all the bright heritage of generations. Has come down to us. As members of the large human family. The joy of christmas belongs to those who have vision enough. To see and follow a guiding star. The joy of christmas. Belongs to those. Who in the midst of darkness. Light. Candle in the night. This is a ancient poem that i love to. Share at this time of year. Leave it's a fifteenth-century brother. Take joy. I salute you. There is nothing i can give you which you have not. But there is much that while i cannot give. You can take. No heaven can come to us unless our hearts. Find reston it today. Pig heaven. No peace lies in the future which is not. Hidden in this. Present moment. A piece. The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it. Within our reach is joy. Pink joy. And so at this christmas time. I greet you. With the prayer that for you. Now and forever. The day breaks. And the shadows. Flea away. How many times have you seen. This particular scene of the story of the life of jesus of nazareth. The infant born in the stable. Grand gothic paintings in line drawings of small children. Images. That frame the story in the southern hemisphere characters with dark skin or light skin or asian features. Interpretations from the orthodox traditions or contemporary images of a homeless teenage mother. Begging on the street. It's a snapshot. Etched in the minds of the leaders and others all around the world. I like to enter. The snapshot. And consider. Various characters. Pink joseph for example. I imagine he's exhausted. He's angry and confused. Exhausted from an untimely and unwelcome and certainly inconvenient journey he believes was entirely unnecessary. Angry that he and so many others like him are pawns. In that. In the system of the roman to occupy his country. And who impose outrageous taxes to satisfy their own greed. A new bride jews in high places to collect those taxes. And if we are to take the story literally of course. He's confused. Confused about mary's pregnancy. He knows she is not carrying his child. In his system he had every right to disgrace her. Instead. For reasons even he doesn't fully understand. He's sticking with her. Still. The whole business leasing troubled and confused. Mary of course is heavy with child surely exhausted from the journey. And when the first contractions begin the couple is still. Seeking shelter. She is moving now by sheer force of will. Unable to feel anything but the intermittent pains and her terror. About what will happen next. I think of the innkeeper. He's not often pictures or maybe she. The innkeeper offers the barn when there's no room anywhere in the city. I wonder what prompted even that much compassion. And imagine the disturbance this causes for the animals in the stable. Who are these creatures squeezing into their space in the night. The smells and the sounds of birth are. Earthy and familiar. And yet. Not at all what the animals are used to. These creatures are strange and the timing is off. The animals are unsettled and restless. Some celestial event terrifies the shepherd. It's so astounding a fact that the shepherd's abandon their flocks to wonder off. Shirley leaving the sheep in peril. Well to the east. Astrologers interpret the same celestial event. As a sign of great significance. As the scientists of their day. The magi set out to discover. What this might mean. In the process they're duped by a jealous king. And later. Intuiting trouble. Return home a different way. Only to enrage the king enough. To order all children. In and around bethlehem age 2 and younger. To be murdered. It's hardly the placid snapshot it scene. At first glance. And yet it's a snapshot with so many timeless and telling elements. I see some version of this story everyday in the local newspaper. When i people it. My own picture with contemporary characters for example i see. Immigrants undertaking a perilous journey. With no guarantee of welcome or even. Survival. Ic unwed teenage mothers and. Homeless couples. Seeking shelters from the street on a royal winter night. I see those who make and enforce the laws. And i see compassionate people of every color. Size and shape. Sometimes it's the same people. Sometimes not. I see greed and duplicity and sometimes even murderous rage. I also see forgiveness. And hospitality and tenderness. I see bravery and commitment and love. And in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. I see. What do i see tonight in that snapshot that. At first glance look so serene. I see a story about a great disturbance intended to shake things up. I hear an age-old story that makes me yearn for peace. And to take my place among the compassionate. Ordinary. Faithful ones willing to work for it. Regardless. I'm how long it takes. Or whether i'll even see it in my life.. What do i learn. Tonight. But the retelling of this ancient story. The age-old lesson. To leave room in my heart for surprise. And wonder. But love and tenderness. And what do i hear. A reminder. That's something magnificent. Can be born even in the muck and the mask of the very real world. The title of my. Reflection tonight is called there is. Still. This. Truth. It's actually the first line in a poem my husband wrote. For christmas in 2001. So soon after the terrorist attacks on the world trade center. But this week. I found myself reaching for this poem. Again. For comfort. I'll lend with it. May it be a reminder for you to. That even in the face of death. Something magnificent. Is trying to be born. There is still this truce. Child after child is born. Look into deaths fire and ash. And yet. A child is born again. This day. This night. Sing softly. Same price. Out of the darkness naomi fine and cd and follow the like maybe find joy and the whole aisle of all ugly and the negative repeating our heart and sleeping all morning merry christmas everybody.

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20110313_surrender_john_sermon.mp3

But some of you may remember that one of my suggestions for listening to a sermon weather for me or. Some other preacher. Is to sit there asking yourself. What happened to the minister to make him want to talk about that. Which is a good question in a relationship today's topics. And other spiritual virtues we don't trust. Inspirations for preaching the come to me in those moments. Between waking and sleep. When the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. Make room for one another. Surrender is. Necessary. A natural part of the spiritual. Life and the natural life. Stank of falling asleep. Each night. What's the weather. Last month while i was on vacation it's dawned on me. Quite literally. But one must also surrender. To each new day. To receive it the way rumi. Suggest we receive it do its fullness. No matter what it brings. If we are going to receive life in its fullness. I was still on east coast time which means on arriving out on the west coast. Waking very early in the morning to know. Before dawn. And it was so quiet. And that is the first light began to break i heard the birds. The dawn chorus. Starting their singing. And it was a reminder. Professor charles hartshorn 103. Was supposed to enact of unitarian universalist and a leading philosopher of religion and i once had the privilege of having him sit in the front row while i preached. Serious scientists as well more papers in ornithology. Then he did in religion or philosophy. And in his book born to sing. And interpretation. And world survey of birdsong. Hartshorn argued that while suffered song develop to. Perform understood evolutionary functions like attracting signaling mace. And other song functions to. Protect. The territory in the food supply. A lot of birds song. Especially. At dawn each day. Does not seem to have any such. Clear purpose. It would seem. The birds find evolutionary value. In giving into it just for the sheer joy of singing. What a great argue. Years ago. When i was feeling for finally depressed for time. Having difficulty sleeping. My spiritual advisor suggested. That i go out. When it was still dark. Have listened to the birds. As they sang map. And make it part of my spiritual practice. I did it. And it helped. Lately in our celebrity culture which i really don't want to encourage very much and so i don't preach about it often. We've all been vicariously precipitate participating in the struggles. Of various hollywood stars. As they resist the deep spiritual wisdom. The teachers that the very first. In overcoming one's demons. Is paradoxically to surrender. To admit that one is powerless. Over an addiction. Life has become unmanageable. We humans do not have a terrible tendency to overestimate our powers. We don't have to be so delusional as to claim that we have tiger blood. To think rather better of our powers than is really warranted. Some 85% of all drivers are better than average at that skill. 90% of high school students. Write themselves. Above-average and leadership skills. I could go on. We train ourselves. We train our children to be self-reliant. To do for oneself. And then we find that there are. Occasions when we simply cannot. I think of a deer woman. Heritage universalist. To belong to the congregation i once served in dallas texas. I don't think. Pearl missed a single sunday. During my first two years they're not even. Or forward. When i visited her at home. She showed me her perfect attendance pins from the sunday school if her childhood church. As an adult she had served for a time as the director of religious education. But now she was growing old. And recovering from a fall in from a surgery. Her rehab was slow. As she was slow. And yet every time i visited her in the nursing home she would say i'll be in church next sunday. And i would go away wondering whether that was really in the cards. So when i talked to her daughter i said so. And the next sunday pro wasn't church. In a wheelchair. Pushed by her daughter until i could walk in my daughter here said come on mama we're going. It's false pride keeping you away. False pride. And so i surrendered so. Walk again. But she learned. Cuz we all must to accept. That limitation before she had to accept the ultimate surrender. Which we also all face. That we don't want to admit it. In fact much of what i've learned about. Surrender is a spiritual virtue i've learned from people. Coping with chronic illness. Or limitation. Or more than normally conscious of the inevitability. And perhaps proximity of death. This past week you know mark the late beginning to let. That season in which the day's length. That's what the. Name comes from. Yet it begins with a reminder that all of our days are. Finite induration. On wednesday ash wednesday eroded my journal. The traditional ashes they are a healthy reminder. That we're all mortal in destin to die. And to surrender everything in the end. To paraphrase gm foresters great wisdom in his novel howards end. Death destroys us. The 4th of death however. Canby what state is it. The thought of death can be what saves us. It brings humility. Compassion. Even for ourselves and a surrender if we think of it rightly to the fullness of life. The life more abundant. While we still have time to embrace it. It may cause us to reassess how we've lived. What habits obsessions are blocking us from living more fully. But i wouldn't overly emphasized being penitential. Sem forester also rights. Of all means 2 regeneration remorse is surely the most wasteful. It cuts away healthy tissues. Along with the poison. It's a nice that probes far deeper than the evil. Leonard one of his characters was driven straight through its torments an emergent pure button sebold. A better man who would never lose control of himself again. But also was smaller. Who had less to control. Nor did security bring peace. The use of the knife can become a habit is hard to shake off his passionate self. And i've known plenty of people. Who fit that profile. Who surrendered. Not to life but to regret. Which is anything but the same. My own parents may they rest in peace were not among them blessedly they were far from perfect. Few. Children you know thinks their parents are. But they left me a legacy of knowing that some things in this world are always to be resisted. Outright complicity with evil. Dishonesty. The more selfish callous aspects of what. In this land. That we love so often passes for a culture. They came from wisconsin. Which has been much in the news this week. We live there during the era of senator joseph mccarthy. Who likes so many on the right now had few scruples about lying. Orion tuning the motives of decent people to gain political advantage. My mother referred to mccarthy memorably. As nothing but a self-made man who worships his own creator. Ponder that for a moment. But my father had built a ship to the navy and mccarthy and his wife came to the christening. My mother. Wrestled over whether to shake the senators hand. But gave in. For the sake of harmony and social decorum. Later is she herself had to adapt to having multiple sclerosis. And i watched her both resist every relinquishment. From using a cane. To using a walker. Do using the wheelchair. Being assisted to being. Almost totally dependent. As i watched her do that and yet stay gracious. By knowing when to surrender. I learned a great deal. I think this is why my father when i was elected as president of our denomination gave me a name plates that i still have on my desk it's got three sides. One has my name facing forward. And then on the side that i could see. Never given. Never give in. Never never never. Winston churchill. But if you rotate it 1 turn. To reveal the hot side that hidden down on the desk. It reads. If at first you don't succeed give it up. There's no use being a damn fool about it. W.c. fields. Which seems to me. Capture the paradox. Of spiritual resistance and surrender. And i'll tell you this the clearer you are about having surrendered your life. Worthy purpose. Two relationships. But matter. For the nurturance of authentic community. The more you will be able to resist distractions. Did ask you to surrender to lesser values. Smaller goals and smaller gods. To remind ourselves of that is in part why we're here. On the weekend of april 1st the 3rd i'm going to be leading a two-day retreat. How to throw camp & conference center in western massachusetts. The theme taken from that master of. Wise spiritual surrender. The sufi poet rumi. When you do things from your soul he writes. You feel a river moving in you. A joy. When actions come from another section the feeling disappears they may be blind or worse vultures. Reach for the rope. Oh god. And what is that. Putting aside self will. Surrender in other words. Rose chapel. The prayer. Oh god give us serenity to accept what cannot be changed. Courage to change what should be changed. And the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other notice. But the first part. The part that leads to serenity. Involve surrender. In the face of what cannot be changed. What is beyond our power. Cyrodiil where this sermon really came from. It was late january. We had just suffered the third or fourth. Huge and paralyzing snowstorm. And i ran into mary builder. Here at the church. Like me she grew up in wisconsin. And she said something about how when we were kids people didn't seem to complain so much. About the paralyzing snow. We just stayed home. Or not. And made hot cocoa and play board games or went cross-country skiing. And surrender to the snow. But now we carry our smartphones and believe the internet goes down while i was writing the sermon darn it. It should be fixed instantly. But who are we kidding. And why are we complaining. And what are we missing. Mary and i said to one another. If we forget. The spiritual virtue. We sow distrust. I'm surrender. I walked away thinking of my grandparents. In wisconsin. I never complained about the weather. Who came to america's orphans from slovakia before world war i. Who's first for children. By the end of the influenza epidemic of 1919. Then went ahead with courage and. Open this to life and had my mother and two more. They did not complain because they surrendered. Life. Even. When they went through the depression and the second world war. They had surrendered to the spirit of life. And then i thought of the check unitarian. Norbit chocolate. I'm we remember each year at the end of. Our worship season together. The man who invented the flower communion. Who spoke out and resisted the nazis. Arrested him and took him to dachau. And even there. To the way he's surrendered his soul. To the spirit of life. That connects us all. Before he surrendered. His life at the very end. He died there in 1942 but not until heated written a plaintiff. A resistance to evil in the world. And surrender to the spirit. That makes for love and life. And it's with that but we will now close the service. Choir will lead us. And like the birds in the morning. Let's join in in full voice and surrender. The spirit of life. By singing. Number 8.

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20110220_believing_is_seeing_ed_lane_sermon.mp3

I don't usually preach textiles thurmond's but this one has a text. How to spell from the bible. It's from ralph waldo emerson. One-time unitarian minister. Author of much of our sacred scripture. Emerson said. What they are prepared. The quotation. But i found it when i visited the reception exhibit. Currently at the peabody essex museum in salem. Put my introduction to this topic came some. 40 or 45 years ago. When i was a member of. A group of ministers and went through what was really a formative experience in our lives. Perspective. My ministry. How is worth a small group of. Uu ministers. We spent a day with professor hadley cantrell. His perception laboratory at princeton university. He was the founder of. But i want to tell you one of them. Walls ceiling floors everything covered in non-reflective black fabric. Receded on the bench. When the lights were put out. And then there.. 1015 fever. From the wall. No i want you to tell me. Yes we would have all sworn that's what was. He put the lights on and showed us what was really happening. This balloon was eclipse. Enlarger make it smaller. Each was also equipped. We could make them brighter. Four dimmer. And all this was being done simultaneously. Biking. As we walked out of that room i was beside don harry. What was. To understand the light looks larger and brighter. Our sun is bright. What's the weather. And the dimmer away from us together. And the eye is seeing a powerful. And sending it to the brain. Undermined. Hinder meaning. Southern this case the objects are moving farther away. He went on to point out the obvious real life. You made a car, how do you know it's coming. What course am i forgetting. 30 seconds earlier. We translate. Remind is program. Experiences to make that interpretation and we do it automatically. What doctor cantrell did was prickles. By creating the signals. The balloons are getting larger and brighter. But without the movement away from us. We were sure we knew what was happening when we were wrong. What we believe. I'm into that room. Many of you are probably familiar with. Plato's theme domestic images of cave. Inside the opening. Facing the blank wall at the end. There's a fire behind them. Is there shadows. On the wall of a cave in front of them. So that is their ultimate reality. Future try to get them to come out of the cave until b elegance. In fact he says. If an outsider comes in and tries to force the issue. Rather than before. Notification. Into something is not real. Reminds me a little bit of ts eliot's observation that humanity cannot bear very much reality. Horeb wh auden. We would rather be ruins and changed. We would rather die than climb on the cross of the moment and let our illusions. Seeing is believing that's an ancient proverb. I tried to track it back and i got back to at least the second century bce. Define reference to that phrase. I'll believe it when i see it we say. Pictures of the voices of the skeptics. The voice of the person who plays a lot of trust. Too much i'm afraid. In their own russian ality. Persons who is sure they can clearly separate the true from the fall. The right from the wrong. By the end of this sermon i hope to convince you one. Sometimes you may believe what you see. More often. See what you busy. This is not a sermon about optical illusions. Photo of using because it's easy to demonstrate my point. The proposition that i would put to you this morning came years after that experience in hadlock dental laboratory. That is if that's fine. In the perception of values. Visual volume. In religion. Philosophy. Politic. Morales. Ethics. Theology. We all see in those things. What we believe. How we sing. How we feel and how we. For the environment. With the world in which we live and move and have our being. Optical illusions buffalo spree cuz i set up a conflict. Between me and the mind. The drawings in your order of service. R2r by m.c. escher. The other the roman pitchfork. And incidentally i put on the table out in the coffee our room. Several things. One of them is. Fishers. Take a look at some when you get out there. But they confuse because our eyes. Sending it to the brain and the mind is rejecting. Some of you may be old enough to remember that old television series lost in space. What's the robinsons robot. Gave birth to a new phrase it's now common in our language. That does not compute. What he was really saying. Robinson my brain is already programmed. The new information does not fit. So it must be incorrect. Because it's what the sermon is all about. The new information does not fit therefore it must be incorrect. We'll come back to that at the end of the sermon. Optical illusion of service sometimes create. But people can become. By looking at. You seen some of those swirly thing. If you have difficulty. Troy what i did look at one of my men. Turn it away and try to draw it. I struggled for a long time. Only way i could do it. What's the drawback square posed in. A recent visit to my audiologist made the point. Optical way. As most of you know i are fairly severe loss of. Windshield. Soundproof cubicle. She said outside and she was reading off words and i was to return. At one point she said off. Hello i said off. Bill. Said. Bill's burgers. Obviously i'm frustrated. I heard what i believe. Have a lot of experiences. Vivid experience of a teenager recollection. Born-again funtulis fundamentalist minister. Earthcam. He believed one that the bible was literally the word of god. Taking the pencil and written it down. And also he believes. Was it a question of arrogance he was simply. We had a conversation about this for some time. After 10 minutes of disagreement. We just saw things very different because we were starting out from very different. What we believe. Duncan hello. Anoka labeouf. One of my mentors in the 1950s. If you disagree with someone's confusion. And there you will find. The basis. Duncan was right on. Another example. Logical school. We have a course on world religions. I'm at the first session of the class. All of us were asked to write down on a piece of paper are definition of religion. And then show them where the class. One student said. Melissa jesus christ as lord and savior. His fellow students and professor all alaska. What about other religions. Buddhism hinduism. Judaism. Philosophy. Seriously. In the 1930s and 40s. There was a great debate among american protestant. What was the proper role of the missionary. Was it to uproot indigenous religions apply christian. Or was it to work with indigenous religion to deal with human values and problems etc and all the rest. Heinrich kramer is. Orthodox bardion theologian. And william ernest hocking a liberal congregations for the debaters. The debate was later published. Diversion of jesus golden rule. Was found in virtually all the religions of the world. Bill and bill bradley in buffalo number those versions on it. Disclaimer. Is what is the difference. Weather. Or someone else. When jesus said it replied kramer. When the others said. Yoga shapes our way. What happened to vanilla understanding of whatever may be presented to us. Is condition. And interpreted. Black all of the previous experiences of our lives. Even the subconscious ones. Lauren from depth psychology. Edward mckay's. The new experiences come into conflict with a previous one. We have to react to several ways we react. One we may adopt. Religiously we call like conversion. Second. And reject the new one. B roll. Or third we try to blend the two and somehow make them fit together. And sometimes that works sometimes it doesn't. 44 we become disoriented. To some degree not necessarily serious mental health when we get two of these things that are both. Purporting to be in coming across those is true and we cannot deal with him. Disoriented. Major or minor mental illness. That's a much too simplistic description real life doesn't comment. Straight line of seriously call gun effects like that. How much more complex network of interaction of all of the experiences. With which we've been programmed. Since the moment of our concept. Implication of all this is that if a life and ministry of the church. Is in the shaping and developing of human values. Wendy's better understand. How about process works. The races. Chauvinist. Tyrus. The militarists. The fundamentalist. Unitarian universalist. All of us carry values that are infiltrated into our into their mind their life experiences. Whether we are seeking to build develop some kinds of values or foes others. We need to understand how those values. 44. Consider another area. I got exposed to this one i became fascinated with cultural anthropology. To look at the question of language. Cultural anthropology sinclair list list and sinclair write. We begin by speaking as we sing. As we speak. How are languages and is an expression of our culture. Shaped by the way we are brought up. Hello on the other hand. By our language. Little disagreement with you. Define suggested that bringing up a child. Using terms such as niger. B****. Retard. Would be shaping that child's attitude. But aren't we also shaping values and attitudes. When we use masculine pronouns. In reference to both male and female person. Assures using gender-inclusive language. I have to confess that that's exactly the position that i took. In the early years of the feminist movement. Unfortunately. I voiced it. And the only article i ever had or ever will have. Public places for wall street journal. Hello. Even putting it in the mud. Educators have been telling us for a long time that beliefs developed experience. Far more powerful than from books. Let's not discount ebook search. As mark twain put it in his inimitable way anyone was ever attempted to carry a cat home by its tail has learned a great deal.. Consider the swastika. A form of a christian cross. Commonly used in greece churches. Often found in churches in western christian. I remember. When i walk through some of the cathedrals to the catholic church in in spain. Seeing swastikas repeated over and over and over again. In the pattern. The nightmare of nazism altered our perception of the swastika. And the programming alarm minds by that experience creates a totally different response. Then we would have had 70 years ago. In the early 1960s. Finbar church in cherry hill new jersey i was conducting a service. In which we were singing about magnificent haydn anthem. White pages and of nations. The woman in the congregation. I assume she was real. After church telephone. She didn't want to talk about it then but made an appointment to see me the next day and i went to see her. She told me that she was a jewish child in german. During the holocaust. And her mother has hidden under the porch of our house. When the nazi stormtroopers are really where we're going up and down the street rounding up jews. Sending them off to the desk. And those stormtroopers. Deutschland deutschland uber alles. To the tune of that great. Hardin-simmons. Her experience of the holocaust. Totally outside the experience of the rest of us. Turn that beautiful him. Into a nightmare. During our coffee or this morning. I invite you to take a look at a couple of items. What is a special books. You'll see a lot more things like those crazy drawings. But the other is a photograph of a fedex truck. Was taken by my friend and prisoner in waltham robert. Friedman. The late robert friedman he was a photographer and an artist. Who possessed an antenna unique capacity. For seeing patterns that most people would miss. Challenge me as i challenge you. Find the arrow. Convert fedex truck. Enhance its you can't find it. You're probably starting with an incorrect assumption. But you're believing something that you bring with you when you look at that picture. That is not true. So if you struggle with that picture and can't find it. I will give you two words. And i'll bet you you can go back and quickly find sarah. The whole question of how we perceive our shared values in our church. Has a lot to do with a sense of community. Within the church. It is experience that shapes our perception of value. The common experience shared by adults and young people. That brings a church community together. With its volume. I hope the play with a mobius strip. Young people this morning. Will lead to some family conversation about value. Spell about believing and see. Optical illusions. Why you believe what you see. Or do you see what you believe. This also means that if we wish to exercise. In the way in which we shape our value. Government committee again. We need to create experience. Experiences of reverence for life. Respect for our planet. Ethical values of love and respect. In our relationship of other human beings etc etc we need to share the common experience. All perceiving the world. Through the eyes of an annie dillard. A martin luther king a rachel carson of ralph waldo emerson adore parker a william ellery channing. We need to send. Said life is a miracle. When he rode a mouse is miracle enough. To stagger millions of infidel. And we need to incorporate these experiential values. Inderal religious education both adults and children. The rituals are social action allmusic. Power coffee hours. All of our coming together in our community of faith. Hello reaching out into the larger world. Remember the comment at the beginning of this sermon that i said i would come back to at the end. The new information does not fit. Therefore is must be. But why make. Assumption. 4th century dowels philosopher. 4th century philosopher. Went to sleep and dreamed he was a butterfly. Baby woke up and found himself a man. No i do not know whether i was venom. Dreaming i was a butterfly. Dreaming your. Robert pirsig on zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance wrote of the value trap. The most widespread information. This is an inability to revalue what one sees. Because of commitment. The previous value. Motorcycle maintenance. You must rediscover what do you do as you go. Richard volume. Make this impulse. This is of course the central issue. As we confront social change. The political turmoil receiving. See going on present time and date. Rigid. Complete inability to even understand each other. Then propose social changes. Haechi question. A key question is whether our commitment. Is the people. 42 cityology. And if we're committed to radiology. Episcopal minister norman fletcher wrote years ago in his book situation. 1966. Sometimes you have to set aside your principal. It's hard to stomach but it's. Said the same thing but rather more simply. Love is the ultimate. Channing parker. Unitarians. Made the point. Religious beliefs and values all came from human beings. Set revolution an inside did not end just because a body of lee beliefs. Got canonized into sacred scripture. Quitman. Said it better than. The song of all known reference he wrote. Add up in you. Whoever you are. We consider bibles and religions devon. I say they have all come from you. American from you still. It is not they who give the life. It is you. And isn't that very close. What jesus meant when he said. The kingdom of god. Is within you.

uuneedham_org

20111218_festival_homily_john.mp3

Among the world's many religions with ancient roots and rituals are unitarian universalist faith can seem like a relative. Newborn babe it's self. Actually it was only 50 years ago. You 1961. That the unitarian side of our family in the universalist side of our family came together. But it's clear that we hold. Dear the message. Of the power of light in darkness. As much as any people. In anytime. One of the most widely shared rituals. In r1000 congregations scattered across america. And in many unitarian and unitarian universalist congregation. The philippines. Places. We forget about. One of the most widely shared rituals is the one with which we begin our worship. Cherry tree. The lighting of a chalice. We should remember that it comes out of a time of great darkness. A little over 60 years ago. What became world war ii. Was breaking out in europe. And the newly-formed unitarian service committee. Now you usc. The sponsor of the guests at your table boxes that i trust your filling up. To remember our commitment to human rights all around the world. The service committee wanted to help people who were fleeing. From the terror of the nazis. Charles joy the unitarian minister who headed the service committee realize that. No one knew. What this new organization was or how to find them. So he asked an artist. Who had fled. From czechoslovakia. An artist named hans deutsch. To draw a symbol. To represent the service committees desire to help. Deutsche drew an image that came from his memories of life in prague. A chalice with a flaming light in it. The chalice shape. A memory of the quest for religious freedom. As well as ancient practices like the temple flames. I'm jews and greeks and romans. Saw the eternal flame is that of reason. The cup was 4 people thirsty. For justice. Who wanted to drink deeply of that which could heal and make-whole. The flame represented the spirit. Of light and help and sacrifice. By the time. The unitarians and the universalist came together. It was a symbol embraced by many congregations. And so now. As we end our service. We like our chalice. To represent our gifts. To the ongoing. Light. Ours made but a small flame. But let it shine. In each of us. Is it this time of year we recall. That light and darkness are both external but not perpetual. The dark will always come quickly. But with the darkness. Come the rituals that remind us. Of the light within. The light that can illuminate our lives and bring us hope and meaning. The light. That is sure. To return. If we but strike the flame. And help it. Mark. The joy. That is arkell.

uuneedham_org

031109_Phil_Villers--Economics+Human_Values.mp3

For sale. And a member of the board of directors since the inception of families usa. Committed to family usa's mission of achieving universal access to high-quality and affordable health and long-term care for all american. He currently also serves on the aclu. President's committee. Amnesty international executive director's council. And various other board. He was the founder of computer vision corporation. Fortune 500 company. Also automatic. And cognition. It has been a guiding force. Innovative. Hi-tech corporation. For more than 25 years. With honors from harvard university. And a master's in. Mechanical engineering from mit. Bill and i work we're talking before. Forum. About some of the changes that are happening here in our home state of massachusetts. And the first question that i would like. Some of you may be familiar that with the fact that the former governor. State of massachusetts. Convened a task force on health care about 3 years ago. To look at all phases of the system from affordability to access. In quality. Many of the most prominent members of the various sectors of healthcare presidents and ceos from hospitals and health systems managed care organization. Health insurers. All came together. For this particular cat-boy. Notably absent from mad. Discussion. Supply-side. Medical device big pharma biotech. Your two very large organization. Here in massachusetts. Organization care massachusetts boston scientific come to mind. That weren't at that table that weren't involved in that discussion. I would like to ask bill. Liheap. That happened. States like massachusetts. And what. At the grassroots level. Tiberias. Challenging question. Right after my talk. Coming very slowly. The civil rights movement. Strong powerful interest for many years but eventually prevailed. To get ahead of myself. Do i believe that. Universal access to quality health and long-term care. I can't wait. How i got involved. We all know. Significant consequence. Ashley motivated to focus on what we can accomplish. Translate for the question. How can we leave the world a better place than we found it. And where can we make. Our contribution. I have long-ass myself as has my wife. By the way. I remember about 35 years. 1960s. And the following sunday very powerful sermon on his life was preached in archer. And i was struck with the fact that my lifelong ambition i've had been for many years to make some significant contribution to social.. I was only a few years younger than him. And yet. Relatively young engineer with a great deal of experience. Resources. How i could. Contribute in a significant way. But the direct approach. But not necessarily the best way. I could try and started commercial company. It worked out that way. Founded the next year. Eventually became the fortune 500. Made possible. My wife and i started in 1981. Using the financial resources the computer vision has made possible. Its original goal original. Which one proved the quality of life for seniors. Biggest. Is associated with health care in long-term care. We did not want to take a parochial. Symbolism. Inclusive family usa foundation. Considering that healthcare. Respond a metal chain. Weeping alaskan destination on earth does not matter. To provide universal access to healthcare. Let's start with the most fundamental question. There's a lot of talk about fixing it. And so what i propose to do is to look at the various aspects. Exactly why i'm in what way it is broken. We're spending more and getting less. What do i mean by that is spending 60% of our gross national product. Do want to have trillion dollars. Next. Highest expenditure per capita in switzerland. Play 44% higher. To the north in canada. The healthcare cost. Cuz i probably don't need to remind you early totally out-of-control but let me throw a few numbers that you. The average healthcare cost the family that's the somerville public and private expenditure. Was $20. 14 a half thousand dollars i don't know what it is today. I dunno. Covered per family at this point. 9:30 a half thousand dollars i'm sure many of you know it to your detriment. Furniture. No. $4,600. Very very big number. In the pharmaceutical industry. Better off without any costume. It is currently growing. Prices are currently going a three-and-a-half x inflation. Regular razor cost every year. Medical bankruptcy has now become the leading cause of bankruptcy not country. Small businesses. This past year founded the average payment went up 14 and a half cent. So our system is indeed. The most expensive system in the world. Present. Call vince. You know that's going to have to change because by the year 2050 would use up 100% of the pnp. The best in the world. Contrary to some of the publicity.. Get results. The life expectancy. Alex morgan. Heart disease rates. Higher than in canada. Mortality or performances. Singapore has lower mortality than we do. Federal government medicare medicaid. Was 20% of the budget. Portsmouth probably will do lower now because we're spending as you know where. 150 billion dollars. Borrowed money on iraq so. That is reduced. Impossible. To balance the budget on a long-term basis. Without some form of. Cost control by the year 2050 with everything. Control cars in the public sector without doing anything with the private sector we've already found out. Medicaid reimbursement which is the program for the poorest american. Unalome. So the many doctors refuse to accept medicaid patients. Even happening to seniors. Ss dolphin with medicare. Controlling part of their balloon by squeezing it we know what happens when you screw. Part of a balloon. From a few years ago. Well we know the outcome of that one. With double-digit inflation. As well. And prescription drugs they indicated. Rising. Double-digit grapes. Not as occurrences. The pharmaceutical industry in this country. Median profit. 5 time. 575 time. How about efficiency. Insurance company overhead. Which does not contribute to healthcare per se. Dolphin 22 30%. Which is the name given to the money spent. Avoid ensuring people who are high-risk. Is a nice cartoon. Emergency room performing a biopsy. The first thing that happens when you mix.. And they want to see your insurance card. And what happens after that. Is far more than more depending on that card. Propaganda. Wood death. Thank you believe. To bring it home two cases of real individuals ipix. Several years old to illustrate. Probably problems of access. Truce that picture was the case of tom and jean meredith. Insurance through their small business the roadside convenience store. Profitable. Tom had to wait for you to get the surgery he needed. The cancer recurred. Meredith had to spend $60,000. Out-of-pocket. With an uncertain outcome. Second story ipic. Teresa beard. Fourth after her second child. And that her children had been insured for medicaid. Which is you know as the federal and state. Programs for the poor. And when she started her job her salary was low enough so that she continued to be able to get that. I had the painful choice. Dropping out of the foursome going back on welfare. Or having. Affordable private insurance and term for did not provided. Cartoon. Which. Doctors office thank you for not dropping when your health insurer refuses to pay. It is been construed that insurance companies do not practice medicine and therefore cannot be sued. For malpractice. But in fact. They offered decide whether you get a particular. Call senpai. High school graduate. Punahou very little about medicine that can open up a book. Superman. Falling from a horse. Ran out because it had a feeling of a million dollars. By the way i look around this room. Insurance. Dangerous. 304. Unprotected american families. They're two statistics the best-known one is that of the. Census bureau. Airnow 47.4. Asian americans who have no insurance coverage. Sometimes claimed. Have a significant difference in the outcome. Are there medical treatment. Terms of delays. Etc. If you ask a different question. How many. Insurance for at least a month during a two-year paper. .. Which means roughly one out of three americans other than senior to approve it on. Medicare. Intrude. For some period of time and a two-year.. You'll have a disease at that time which one they become re-entering becomes a show called pre-existing condition. With interest and will refuse to cover. Touted. Tractor. It is ironic it today. Definition. Those in united states increasingly. Are limited to those positions of their particular health plan and hmo. Helpline return mode changes position. It was a tragic. Storywood. Somebody was experiencing a heart attack. Accuweather. In the vicinity of the hospital. Was hopefully covid hospital. And they suggested that he drive to another hospital. Fortunately this particular device. A final cartoon witch. You may have. The picture of. Congressman. Is it going into. Hospital. Caption is experienced the horror of government healthcare. Regardless of political point of view. Refused. Except. Government healthcare. We're told so many times it's so terrible. The novel solutions. Many have been proposed. Probably one of the more interesting ones is the solution of marrying a canadian. But if you want to be more serious. Number of states are trying to do something about it given the present paralysis of the federal government. It's perfectly clear that the present administration leadership in congress. Has no interest whatsoever in bringing about. Healthcare access to all americans. Everything from iraq. Example of me recently. Glencoe. What time total latin means. Realistically maybe the way that we will first get universal access. Even though it's by no means the most efficient. Will read something more than 95% of all. Maine resident. Ultimately becoming including. Covered. Answer the great deal. You'll find. I brought along a few family who had a report that you're welcome to look at honduras. A chrome. We also have a very. Website w.w.. Can give you an idea what's been going around the country. Inundated. Executive director job. Former representative in the state house. Markel louis community forces together. Bedtime. I needed to bring about. The comprehensive plan much as was done in vain. This is an area where. Can help. Which is true and hopefully that's a very large expense. Quick overview. Healthcare system broken is it is. What's some you use are doing. Concurrent. Trying to make this world a better world. Kind of pergola. Hard long time with waiting. Contrary to your question directly peter. Already have parsley. Because. Has the civil rights movement. A coalition of disparate forces working together to bring about change. This is what brought. Cancel plan to bring about universal access. In massachusetts. This is what is just resulted in the same and. New mexico working on it. I hope that the second attempted massachusetts succeeds. I know you're part of it. Like to open it up to questions from the. Fortville. We can talk about this element to that that you think that are. Horse health care policy in general. I happened to support the dean for a variety of. Which of course. Strong stand in opposition to the war to run and the box job afterwards is an important part. Would you expect the healthcare. To be honest i have to admit that civil of the democratic candidate. Are strong advocates of universal access. Howard dean. Got a long ways toward accomplishing it is governor vermont. Somewhere down the patchwork quilt faces. They now have prescription access drug to everybody below. 150 defender the property line which is from otis large number. I believe he has a credible unrealistic. Albeit. Inherently somewhat inefficient approach. To bring about universal access. 30 would not be saying the truth. Reminder problem. My question has to do with long-term care. A plan and i tried to keep up on the reading about some of these things and i. Terribly terribly confusing. The report cast. On long-term care insurance. Reading. Long term insurance. That's affordable. Doesn't work for most people. It'll go directly from the hospital. A nursing home and have a continuing medical condition. Too many people that's not the case. For the insurance that really covers it. Premier sign up. In your forties and fifties. Is so expensive is to be honored for unaffordable for most americans. Long-term care insurance. Doesn't work for the majority of americans and website. So when you say it's complicated it's worse than that. From from time to time through the years i've had lotto. Canadian friends associates tell me that. Universal health carrier. Automotive branch. Are we opting for a driver's license because the doctors would have to take you in there getting paid. And they really. Do the minimum. Reverse. How do you feel about keeping it personal and the doctors be incentivized to do. That's a very good question. Subject of a lot of information and misinformation. You choose your doctor and can unto him at any time which is more than most of us can do. And the doctor does not have to take. An unlimited number. Tiffany the canadian system isn't perfect. Interesting. Majority of canadians. Broken pelvis. Very satisfied with their healthcare system. And yet. When you gave your presentation you started out by. Pointing out various ways in which our system was broke. Broken. And those included. Inadequate access and affordability for most. Also included. Runaway. And then in the later part of your talku address very. 10 minutes. Greater access. Gregor. Affordability. But. I didn't hear much about containing the call. How would you go about doing that. Comfortable with the effort to bring greater accessibility. Praying medic. Important question. Advocate. Best known under the heading. And a single-payer system would have cost control. Difficult otherwise. Very practical system. Would have to. Replace what employers are paying typically. And even if it did not add a single. In terms of taxes which would be raising the money. You have to have a tax increase. A hundred billion dollars. In the present political climate. I asked you. The other school of thought. The same thing is to as governor and what they're saying is let's first get everybody covered. The cost of a shoe. Given the powerful entrenched interests in this country. Valid pragmatic approach. Although i'd love to see everything done at the same time. I have another question. With regard to universal access. Gentleman's question over here. What are some of the recommendation with regards. How that would. Actually be implemented. It should start at the state level. What are the particulars. How do you get. Uninsured in the united states. Actually covered is it a combination of private insurance. The government insurance. How did that. How does that actually work. That's a good question of course the many schools of thought on that. You might be interested to know. When clinton was first running for office in the new hampshire primary. We organized an organization that her correlational coalition called new hampshire ave. Asking questions about medical coverage and we made sure that every place any of the new hampshire. Questions about that. And ask him to work. With the clinton campaign to come up with a health plan. Later on when clinton was elected we know he put together his famous task force. Contrary to our specific. Unfortunately. Expensive better part of a year coming up. Detail plan the size of a telephone book. Comprehensive. Try to do trying to work out all the details. Single-payer approaches another one. The one that's being done in my apartment has talked about new mexico. By narrowing the gap. Ups provide two-person drugs to seniors. You provide. Covered school. Can you find a way the middle dividing it between large employers will you provide some. Make sure that they do cover employees. You provide some subsidies to small businesses. Usa intentional. Has avoided the divisive aspect of saying there's a right way and a wrong way. Universal access to quality health and long-term care. In as many steps is necessary to actually get it passed. The reason for the entrances. At the state level today by the way is the way. It's not really fair. Pragmatic. Is it anyway. The present president. Advocate. An actual bill to bring around universal access any way whatsoever. Order the present. Leadership of the congress with passive even if he asked for it. And that's the reason for the interests of the state level. At the present time. I came in late so maybe i missed it but driving healthcare costs higher and higher. Unlike other countries are uncontrolled. So it's left to what's called the free market. I don't know how many of you. I'm going to doctor ash. Prescribing expensive drugs. If you'd like to consider a couple of other alternatives or you go to three pharmacies to see who gave you the best price. Kobe ideas. Pre-market. In the true sense of the word carefully cultivated myth. In. System structure dora. The providers to maximize profit and there is not a countervailing force. So you have a. Monopoly or oligopoly. In the case of the pharmaceutical industry. As i said earlier. Rising. 1/2 time. Acosta living. Aspect of the pharmaceutical industry the cost of the new jordans. The truth the old drugs. Still under patents. Arriving rapidly. Interesting. One of the ones that. Interesting fraud on the system. Is ready to expire. Independent generic companies developed. Downtown pittsburgh. So what happened is that the patent holder. Real basic. A peculiar way. In return for keeping it off the market. Pornography. You're too. Because we passed a large number of years ago providing an incentive. Coconut, to come out with generic. Drug. Cointreau come out weather. Is the only one allowed to four.. Until you. The pharmaceutical industry. Getting creases. Three and a half times the cost of living. Study showed i think you'll find a copy over there. Patented drug. Juve have costed the most popular wanted cost increases. Sometimes as much as several times a year. Rochester new one. Question. In the series recovered a variety of economic issues in this is one. We are in church. And you mentioned that you were inspired by a up something something that you heard at church too. Direction i need for cars. I was wondering if you have any insight. In this regard. A patchwork of issue problems with corporations in demotte in. Democracy. Did you get that part of you. Well. I don't know if they're the universal answer i'll tell you mine. One of the reasons. I like going to church. Is it. About the things you don't think about everyday. Sometimes related to the sermon. Sometimes my cleats my mind drifts off. Either case. What time. Thoughtful reflection. Put some of those part of that sort for reflection has to do. Quiz quiz our own role in the world. What are we contributing to the world. Can we contribute. And this is why. Social action is such an important part of. Council of the first parish in concord. Intervene involve the rest of the time. I believe. Is a very central value. Amongst. Who are not looking to make their contribution in the afterlife. Important part of our life together and yet. Some people feel overwhelmed with so many problems in the attention. How can i possibly. Our view on prescription drug. Of a free market. Some form of cost control. One of the ways that is being done in the courts but not successfully. Buying car. Inferences. Required for the state to buy drugs for its various program. Set the prices. Comprable to those. Precursor to get the lowest possible price. And otherwise that particular drug will not be mistake formulary and then they make it available to our future citizens. Apple of a form of cost control. But in general. The possibility of the pharmaceutical industry. This area. I would label as preposterous. And therefore the question is which of several methods of cost control. Onerous. The bargaining power of the federal government. Is a very good place to provide that kind of leopard. How do you address the argument. You will suppress research. And. Chronic illness. I believe the text. Widely. Heralded point of view. Madison avenue. What do i mean by that. I mean that. If you look at. Where pharmaceutical companies are spending their money. Cursing you'll notice. If they spend more money on. Advertising and its various forms in an r&d don't emphasize that. A majority of the largest pharmaceutical companies profit is larger than their r&d budget they don't answer size that. Erd budget. Because it's lower-risk. You'll find that there's a continuing shift. From. Possible breakthrough drug. White pages in the chemical formula to get around a patent. Your comedy. An approved area. So. When it comes to. Cost-cutting in the pharmaceutical industry. Development of new and useful drugs in the thing from youtube from advertising. Lavish entertainment of doctors of the thing from prophets. I would say triumph of madison avenue. We have we have time probably one more question. Maybe it's good that i'm saving this one for last because it's kind of. Make sliders off-topic. Beckwith. The current administration the current conservative leadership in congress. If there was any real action at the federal level. And i don't think any of us doubts that. Would that imply that one of the best things we can do to improve healthcare in this country. Administration. We need to wrap up by 10. Hi my name is florence braids and i'm wondering what you think about. The fda allowing drug companies to advertise to consumers. Will increase the level of consumer information whether it does it as fast as it increases the level of information. Is a very valid question. Pbs's frontline expose on that subject. The drug known as nexium which is being widely advertised purple pill. Which. Has the price twice as high. Very much of a mixed bag. Unbalanced. Without cost control. I'm not sure that it's. Good thing although there are some advantages in terms of informing consumers. It's nice to come from africa. I look forward to enjoying the service in your church.

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20110925_place_called_home_christian_sermon.mp3

Where i asked you is home. I'm asking for your address here. If you'd like to have my wife over life and i over for dinner talk to me later. I'm asking where do you feel at home. Where are our homes. This question about home has been on my mind for awhile. A year ago i got married. And a month before that my then fiance got a job offer. And that job was. In boston. Which is not so far from here but it's a long long way from austin texas. Where i was living. So the course of a few weeks we moved across the country got married i switch seminaries and she changed jobs. And sadly my brother-in-law died in that span to. I felt a little out of sorts. I wasn't sure where home was anymore. 30 year later. I'm starting to get some roots here. Though. Switching apartments last month sure felt like quite a big move again. It's difficult to feel like you don't know where you belong. Even if it's only for a moment. I think we humans have a desperate need for home. We need to belong somewhere. That's what i think home is home is that place where we belong. But where is that. And just what does that mean. Is it a house a building. Or something more or different than that. In other words where is home. There is this place that i call home it's sort of the building for walls and ceiling. Tea rooms. It's that new apartment i was talking about moving into. Just a few blocks from the beach in north quincy. It's beginning to feel a little bit like home. Do we still have a lot of boxes and seems like. There's my hometown austin. Which is always home for me no matter how far i go. As i was reminded and talking to a friend who just moved to austin. That's home. There's my parents house. Where they've lived for 31 years now. And i haven't lived there for a long long time now. It still feels like home. So there are plenty of places. I can claim as home. They still like home. And places important. If there's one thing i learned. More than any other this summer in japan it was that. Thanks to a generous scholarship i had the chance to visit that historic shrine. At tsubaki grand shrine efface partner of the unitarian universalist association. Place. Really matters. The shrine is built at the foot of that mountain. Where the commie sorrow to hico met the grandson of the sun goddess. As i said the original shrine is actually at the top of the mountain that's a very place. So thankfully they don't make you climb the 2 hours up to it anymore. Today the shrine is at the foot of the mountain. In a sacred grove of cypress trees. Ancient trees stretch a hundred feet into the sky. Place matters. Even sorrow to kiko's earthly body. Legend has it. Is buried under a mound on the shrine grounds. Today the connie lives in a sacred waterfall next to the shrine building. 4 people including myself. Put on their loincloths. And go to be purified. In other words like i said place matters. The commie is inextricably tied to that place. It is his phone. It's impossible to imagine it another way. Some of you probably feel this way too. No matter where i live i'll always be a texan. Imagine this church building will always be home to some of you. Even if you leave. Home could be many places but most of us i think have that place. But i think that home isn't just a place at all. As important as places we do need a place to live to sleep to eat after all. Home is more than that. It's a feeling in a relationship a place state of mind. I think robert frost puts it well. Home is the place where. When you have to go there. They have to take you in. I like that. But i like even more the way that maureen killer nau you minister. Put it when i put out on. Twitter. To ask what people thought of his home. She responded with this perhaps a. Building upon that robert frost quote. Home is the place you don't have to deserve. Home is the place you don't have to deserve. She sent me that understanding of home. And it reminded me of the power of online community as well. She had never actually met maureen in person. We're friends only through the magic of twitter and facebook. Some people question with the internet has done to us. Maybe we're less connected to people they say. I was wondering about this because i feel more connected through social media. I keep up with friends across the country and around the world that i haven't seen in person in years. Friends for many years ago and those i just met. And i know others who tell similar stories. Maybe a few of you have felt the power of that ability to connect. Through technology. I think this too can be at home. I've seen nothing too many people for whom online communities and friends provide a very real. If not physical home. Pittsburgh state of mind those connections indeed the relationships that are made in online communities that are real. Did i mention i was introduced to my wife through facebook first. Belonging is a powerful thing. Home is where you belong where you don't have to do anything to deserve. Being there. A place where you belong not because of what you've done but because of who you are. I worry about people who have never known a place like that. Or who don't have one right now. Those who are homeless. But also those. Who. Those who are homeless. Who lacks shelter lack of physical place to live. Or at least one that has any stability or security. They literally like a place called home. But i also fear for those who may have a physical home. But who like others. Slip never felt that sense of security a relationship. Cuz that's what home is about 4 mi. There's a song by a group i'd never heard of until about 2 weeks ago. I want to share with you. The group is called edward sharpe and imagine magnetic zeros. There's no one named edward sharpe in it by the way. Sing the song for you. Alabama arkansas i do love my mom. Man oh man you're my best friend ice cream into the nothingness there ain't nothing that i need. Well hot and heavy pumpkin pie chocolate candy jesus christ there ain't nothing pleases me more than you. And of course is what i really like right here. Let me come home. Home. Let me come home. Home is whenever. That's what i think of home is whenever i'm with you. Not someplace where i go to sleep though i like our new mattress. Home is when i'm with my wife. With my friends. My family. Home is when we are with those we love. Whether our blood family or family of choice. And that's what i hope to find here. I've been here three weeks now is intern minister. And i'll be here for almost two more years through june 2013. Which right now seems like a long long time away. But it's my hope that this place this church this community. Will be home for me as i know it already is for so many of you. So i leave you with a question. Where is your home. Where is the place you get that feeling. Were you were in that home state of mind. I hope you feel that today. Everyone deserves a home. Even if in my friends words you don't need to deserve that home. Welcome home friends.

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20111002_a_clear_conscience_sermon_john.mp3

My dear friend and colleague carl scoville. Long served the congregation of old brahman unitarians in downtown boston. King's chapel where christians wife is now the assistant minister. And carl tells the story of being called to the elderly parishioner. A business leader. Who would certainly been a success measures. He had managed to. And made millions along the way and. Also embittered some partners. At least two wives. And some of his own children nobody arrived at the deathbed in the dying man said everyone else out of the room. He fully expected that he was going to hear something like a deathbed. Confession. Instead the short conversation ended with the man saying saw. At my memorial service be sure to tell everyone that i had no regrets. Zimborski has lines come to mine. On this third planet from the sun. Among. The signs of bestiality. A clear conscience. Is number one. Zaborski was a polish girl of sixteen when the nazis over ran her country. Began the mass murder of jews and others. As she grew older her conscience troubled her. About what she did not do. First to resist the germans. And on the russians. Mind you she wasn't herself. Or a jackal. For a while. But that didn't mean. That she felt her hands were clean. Standing a. how before the crematory. Rough my mentor jacob trap. Is the have to say in his heart. This was done by members of the human race. And therefore what. They did here. I did too. Or was capable. The true person of transcendent jake and someone in our time. Has the courage to look into the abyss. Of the evils being perfect. Weather in concentration camps or at neligh. Or in the present. In so many ways. And to see there what blake calls the human image. Fisherman image devine and son. But he characterized in his poem the tyger. Only the chloride. Are humbler and safer persons. Then those who turn away. Or shut their eyes to what is being done. Or claim me. Not me my hands are clean. I have nothing to do with that. Even though we acknowledge. That we belong to an interdependent wet. Of all existence. Of which we human beings. Carpenter park. This form of turning which. Tracy. Rightly said is called in jewish tradition t'shuvah. Is also a turning toward. What is wrong. In one society. Turning with open eyes. And it's not an easy thing to do especially on the part of us frankly take the money. To be apart. From the worst scenes of the crime. Sharing ourselves. That we are not. Direct perpetrators. But then i think of the witnesses to violent crime in the inner city. Who worried about. Reaction from violent gang say to the police. And i wonder how different. We out in the affluent suburbs really are. Last sunday afternoon i was leading a memorial service here for our beloved member bill ganic. And i recounted. His story of growing up as the youngest of six children. In a poor russian jewish family in east boston. Just after. The first world war. In one recollection of his childhood bill road going to school. Incense. Dark. Wonderful. But he also told me more than once and i repeated the story of this memorial to confess collectively murder rate. Stealing and other horrible crimes. All young do to think quite naturally was i didn't do any of those things. Then i'm sure he didn't. God and the people also know how accusations of collective guilt. Are deeply problematic. Ultimately. In the book of life each of us truly should be judged by our own. And misty. Our own sins of. Commission and omission. Not by anybody else's. And yet. And yet are we not also are sisters and brothers keepers. Responsible in some part for what all of us collectively done. The major issue in our society today. The word conscience. Has come to mean something very inward very individual. Personal. And yet when you pick the word apart. These are its roots. Together. Shenseea. Annoying. Conscience is a matter of knowing. What is ripe. And what is wrong. Together. And something is lost if we failed to see this dimension of how conscience is formed. Felt. Expressed and sustained among us for example. The state of georgia. Executed. Just. 10 days ago a man named troy davis. Manny said i'm ashamed in conscience. To be a citizen of a country killing a man whose innocence might yet have been proven. Because seven out of his. 9 witnesses against him had recanted. One of the remaining two was an alternative suspect. Thousands of people had. Petition for clemency clemency board itself was evidently split 322. Yep succumbing to political pressure. The execution went forward protesters were saying while i don't know everything what i do know. Makes me feel like i am part of a collective crime. Conscience is why we need whistleblower laws. Lack of conscience is what corrupts our democracy. Your surveys indicate a growing tendency among americans and other people of privilege. To have conscience. Well no deeper than. Whether it makes me feel bad. And it doesn't. So awesome. And i let it. Stay at a distance. Opening up assist calls this emotivism. One reason it's harder now he says to secure moral agreements society. If conscience is nothing but how i feel. Folks in the audience at a presidential debate. Cheer the idea of a person without health insurance being allowed to die. And boo a question from a member of the military who says he's gay. And sheer. At the number of people being executed. Sociologist james davison hunter in the book called the death of character says too many people. Today even those who claim to be conservative. Are less embedded. In immoral landscape. And more individualistic in their judgments. And this is new. A conservative columnist david brooks writes in most times and places the group was seen to be the essential moral unit. Shared religious values define rules and practices cultures. Structured people's imaginations moral disciplines but now more people are led to assume. But the free-floating individual. Is the essential merle unit. Morality once was revealed. Inherited shared now it's about to be something that emerges. Only in the privacy of one's own heart. What is conscience. To be authentic and deep. Actually needs to reflect both inner. Insured value. Brooks. Worries about young adults in our culture drowning and what he calls a sea of moral relativism. I don't know. Ic fart. Too many. Earnest young vegans and vegetarians for example. Uno alwyn messed we are in an interdependent web of life on this planet i know many who grown-up and privileged enough. Nothing. So much as to serve. Others make this a better world. Many who know.. So-called traditional values were often themselves on just. Women's minority's to same-sex couples and individuals. And who want to follow the example. It's not the words of rabbi jesus. In challenging mere tradition. Whenever it clashes with their core value. Of empathy and compassion. I think of the young adults now playing occupy wall street. Or occupy boston. Changing in the street. You got bailed out we got sold out. Some of them because they can't find work. Worthy of their gifts. And passions. Others because. They worry about the men who camp. There were many of them declared that they've given up on voting and that's why they're there. But they've given up on democracy itself because big money and i was so clearly buys and sells our politicians i have to worry myself. Because it's not good to give up on the long-term messy but nonviolent project. We call democracy. Which is a form. Performing collective. Conscience. To give up on it just because it's become tainted. Is it that were new. Not long ago i went to the huntington theater to see the revival of leonard bernstein's 1956 musical candide. Which is about a young adult being exposed to all of the corruptions evils in miseries of the world. Trying to figure out how to retain or restore an innocent conscience. Based on the late 18th century parable by voltaire. The irony of which i think too many people misinterpret. Its conclusion. Nominally says that all we can do is each cultivate our own garden. But that is not meant to be taken literally. It's the remaining as the cultivation requires plowing into the fields of experience. Where. Too much. You know what happen. It requires cultivating in the sphere of action in the direction to deeper recognition of the independence we have. With one another. As families. Communities nations. All humankind. And finally indeed with the environment itself. I guess what i'm saying is that it can be fine to be vegan. Where to keep kosher. Where to go out in protest. But it shouldn't be used just to say i have clean hands. Because unless it contributes to cultivating a common quest for deeper compassion. Greater democracy. Authentic human rights and shared values. What we all need to do is get our hands dirty again. After all was given to the garden as one of our hymns puts it. And seekers of authentic. Justice and peace. Need dirty hands. One reason i love the jewish tradition is that it has such a balanced understanding of human nature. There's nothing like the orthodox christian doctrine of original sin. Saying that we human beings are inherently depraved and then stand in need of. A savior. But neither is there the smug enlightenment or. Romantic individualism in naive tay that's so often replaces it in our culture. And that candied parodies. The rabbis were wise when they taught that there is both an inclination for the good enough. And an inclination. To turn away in the other direction. And the committee evils. Well often. With banality. Is hannah arendt. And that there are none on earth so righteous but they never. Send. Or cause pain. After all our lives are so intertwined and interdependent that. Even. Normally good things like our technological inventiveness can destroy somebody else's job. Our investment dollars can go. Looking for a higher return around the world in. Harmony environment. And it depends on us. To realize that we are not. Without culpability. And need to take some mitigating action. Spent the last three days at the board meeting of our. International human rights arm. Sc. Our service committee. Or i heard. Moving reports of work to support people seeking. The human right to waterford zample. Decent treatment in the wake of humanitarian crises. Fair trade living wages. Civil liberties with more democratic governors. Places like the middle east. During these days of all. I am moved. The beginning examination of conscience. At least two important levels. First the interpersonal. I'm aware as i suspect some of you are of individuals i've heard. Words i shouldn't have said. People live disappointed or offended. And in accordance with ancient wisdom i've been trying to reach out to those who are on my conscience. Not offering excuses just my sorrow. Saint michael. For restored relationship and forgiveness. And second i have been asking myself how i can be more effective. Even at the cost of getting my hands dirty. In working for greater social justice and peace. Not to be more pure. Just to cultivate those. More deeply. So this year i've been asked to deliver a series of endowed lectures the mins lectures that are given every year by uu minister that will constitute a meditation. On how we as religious liberals might renew the spiritual strength of our family of faith by. Buy deeper meditation on the ancient words of micah. What buffalord require of thee. But to do justice. Full of mercy. And to walk humbly with your god. The first of these lectures is going to be called to be an effective justice-seeking people and i'll i'll give it on the afternoon of november 5th in. Intake strapple. With responses from a couple of outstanding younger minister. Some people think. But an examination of conscience. Has the bog them down. Make them feel guilty worth. Powerless. There's even an old joke about a rabbi on yom kippur who is. Beating his breast in a basing himself before god saying i am nothing i have nothing. When the camper joins in starts chanting i am nothing i am nothing. And then the janitor the shammas comes forward and. Starts exclaiming. Until the cancer sniffs to the rabbi. Now look at who thinks he's nothing. The point is each of us is somebody. And that is the point. These days of all. And of its mythical book of life. And which are stories are written. On the first day of the high holidays. There is a medieval ritual cultish lick. When the sins of the previous year. R-cast the palm. Scraps of bread. And then set a float down a flowing stream. List of the rabbis to symbolize with micah a chapter after his most famous verse rights. The eternal will take us back in love. Cover our iniquities. And carry all our sins into the depths of the sea. I pray that our collective consciousness conscience will also tell us this. But each of us. Is somebody. A precious child of god. A sister and brother. The others. Pretender with the garth. The tragedy is how often we. But we are members of one family. Gardner's altogether. Each assembly. Meanwhile the river time flows on. And we use this moment in the year. To both acknowledge our feelings. And to cast them into the stream. As we reaffirm our determination. Build along its banks. City of the garden we were meant to be. For justice. Shuffle down like water. Headpiece. Like an ever-flowing. Soulmate. In all our lives. And in the world we.

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20111113_lessons_from_300_years_john_sermon.mp3

Remarkable that. The frost text. Set by randall thompson. Should be our offertory anthem. It's not in my sermon text but i'm suddenly reminded. That the very first sunday morning i ventured into a unitarian universalist church. The minister uses. Frost as the modern reading. Promising that this would not be a smoother easy path. Or one widely understood. This progressive path in religion. But as i look back. Ethanol more than 40 years that i have devoted my life to building up. Progressive religious communities like this one. Gathered on the basis of shared hope not creed. I can testify that it has indeed made all the difference in the deepening and widening my soul. And that is our mission here. A conventional sermon on an anniversary like today would be getting back in 1711. And then tell the history going forward but that's been done. It's been done in print beautifully by ra sutro. It's been told more recently from this. Cancel buy. Gloria bryce townsend. Three hundredth anniversary service. Just a week ago. I would like to begin. From the present. Providing some lesser-known glimpses into the heritage of the congregation. And gathering some lessons. For the future. And i want to begin with. A framed inscription. Which will be hung. During. Social hour. Bernard parish hall. It reads. This parish hall is not dedicated in honor of elizabeth bartlett store. July 16th 1916 january 1st 2004. A direct descendant of governor william bradford of plymouth colony. Elected in 1620. And. Elizabeth dexter maine. Born may 1st. 1950. A direct descendant of timothy kingsbury. First decan of this parish. Elected in 1720. Born and raised within first parish in needham as young women they were among the founders of its choir. In 1938 in which they faithfully sang for many years. Along with gordon kingsbury made. True daughters of new england. They cared for their parents and families and heritage. Handmade generous gifts. Without which the renovation and expansion of this hall. In 2008. Would not have been possible. Betty would it be possible to ask you to rise. I saw you stand for the him. Add friends i want to ask you. To acknowledge her that's it that's it. It means so much. To have a living link. To the very founding of this congregation. In a person who has proven her devotion. Not just to the past. But to the future. To the 4th century. Of this parish which lies before us. Betty mae others hear your faithfulness. Thoughtfulness and generosity. From the third century of our congregational. Histories let me lift up a vignette now that. Betty's may recall. During the second world war. Mark gessner who's name appears. Up there somewhere. Hiya. Fourth from the top on the left. Was the minister. Are ipods still contain the extensive correspondence but he maintains. With the young men and women from this parish who were in military service overseas. 81 of them. Are listed. On the blackout in the quarter. Gessner was a religious humanist. With real face in human creativity and human connection. His son clark gesner by the way later became a composer songwriter musician actor. Probably best known for the broadway musical you're a good man charlie brown. Came out of this parish. It was based on the peanuts. Cartoon strips. But services here. At first parish down to 1944's betty will recall. We're rather traditional. The lord's prayer every sunday. Periodic communion. Administered by the deacons of the church including betty's father. The parish bylaws made it clear that membership was open the people of all beliefs. But the church. The church. Had a covenant saying in the freedom of the truth and in the spirit of jesus. We unite for the worship of god in the service of man. It was gessner. Who began the rumblings that perhaps the covenant needed to be brought. But when he was succeeded by fred karen's a canadian unitarian of even more adamantly humanist convictions. What happened was that the old church parish distinction. Was simply abolished much to betty's father's distress. The church was merged into the parish. The office of deacon just appeared. And so did any covenant at all. However inclusive leeward in. And that has made some difference. Although congregations like this one from their very founding that then got gathered around covenant. Not creed. This congregation. Wasp. It's called. And that i want you to understand just why we not have a task force. Impart working on a new one. Inclusively worded one that we can all embrace. That expresses two newcomers into coming generations the spiritual purposes and hopes of our time. And that our children can learn by heart. But now to another dimension. Not time but this very space. Many people who enter this meeting house for the first time think that is present interior is quite colonial. I must be pretty similar to the way it was originally built not so very long ago. But in fact if you look closely at plaques in the like you'll discover that's not the case the pulpit on which i stand the pews in which you sit. Were built. And dedicated in 1924. During the ministry of the reverend benjamin franklin allen. The simple pine table upon our chantal may go back to the first meeting house. Maybe even to the 17. Twenties. Puppy even older bible box that's below it. Do it dates to the mid-1600s. Was a gift to the parish in ben allen's time. The plaques listing the ministers. We're put up in conjunction with the bicentennial in 1911. But back then. And during the latter part of the nineteenth century the interior of this meeting house. Was dark mahogany. With curved pews. And red velvet hangings. Very victorian. And fashionable. Then. The exterior wasn't colonial white. But rather victorian brown. Because it was. Brownstone buildings. That were far more the fashion. Ben white clobbered. So please remember that whenever you contemplate any historic restoration or accessibility alterations to this chancel. It's not original. Although the window behind me. So. Trulia. Carpenter gothic. The style in which. The meeting house was built. 1836. Originally the facade out front had two front doors not one. Our hope of course it is in our 4th century to make that front door. Fully accessible again. Down to replace the vinyl siding on the building. That was put up 40 years ago. And the single pane windows that. Well that don't make this face quite as green as the rest of our award-winning building. You know i suspect the story of how the meeting house was put up in log rollers and. 1879 and moved to the spot from. A mile and a half away above the old burying ground on the hoyden street. And that's too familiar to repeat. And a few related facts that i myself didn't realize until lately. The minister then was solon bush. You'll find him on that list i believe. Yes. The middle. Right there below vorce. He served your 18 years. He was described by his successor horse as an old-fashioned pasture. Love this people. Was interested in the children. And tried to keep track of them. Even after they grew up. And what away. I realized that i read that i've been trying to emulate that. Moving the meeting house. Save this old parrish. From what could have been either death or irrelevance. The mission inherited juicy was to be as we now put it out front a religious center with a civic. Circumference. Separation of church and state had never meant. But an open liberal parish. Church like this. Wasn't meant to have a ministry that would stretch beyond. It's on membership. Indeed. Such a ministry was built into it. Character is a parish. From the very start. The whole town and its moral and spiritual needs. Constituted the parish. And recognizing that bush and his wife must have been comfortably well-off. For clergy. Seems that the maid. The largest gift. That made possible the building of the original parish hall in 1888. Just before bush retired. The whole town even then only had about 3,000 people. Betty remembers going to sunday school classes when they were held in the four corners. Of the old hall. There was no usable space beneath this room. Not until the 1920s. When the population. More than double. And miss. Adam fuller. Made possible the creation of the lower parish hall. Which was then used for plays and suppers. I'm later after the war as a preschool serving the whole community. And now of course. For the first time has real classroom. Bush was the editor. Of the most important unitarian journal of the nineteenth century the christian register. And before he settled here. The parish went through a long period with no long-term resident minister. The pay offered was inadequate in the parish evidently had stopped providing. Any adequate ministerial housing. In which i find a lesson for the present as well. Even my immediate predecessor judy manheim couldn't afford to live in needham. Three of the short-term ministers. Listed over there during and before the civil war. All universalist. Who seem to have earned part of their living editing and writing and living out of town. When the meetinghouse moved. The parish lost the extensive acreage that it owned all around. The burying ground. I think the blum's part of it. Today that acres would be worth to the congregation. But it all went to the town. In return for the expense of moving the building that was then being still used for town meetings. But maybe that's alright. Until recently i didn't realize that the town also contributed to building the structure. Back. In 1836. The commonwealth is disestablish the congregational churches of the standing order both. Unitarian and trinitarian only two years before. But they had paid for the paul revere bell. It 1811. Remind the selectmen if they wanted back that possession is nine points of the law. And then when the leaky belltower required that the whole meetinghouse be rebuilt the town. Plan to give to the parish its share of a windfall. Believe it or not in the 1830s the federal government was running a huge surplus. Not a deficit. And they have decided to send that surplus back to the states and massachusetts had decided to pass it on to the town. Need a plan was to make. The third meeting house bigger than the second. Instead when the town got rather less money from the federal windfall than they'd expected. They made it smaller. They cut down and reused. The sturdy old timbers from the 1774 building. Timber so strong that they held this building together when it was moved. Anthony that's the symbol. Of the stronghold heritage covenant here to. Not creed. But haven't we had occasion to sometimes wish. That this sanctuary we're just 8 or 10 ft longer. Eventually was i've said here before. Smallest this place is. You wouldn't my successors. May have to consider doing more often what we will do next week. And have to sunday service. Not just one. Discovered that the clock back there. What is a gift to first parish at the time the meeting house was dedicated in 1837. It came from the family of one ebenezer fisher. A family with deep roots in all of what was once dedham. Ebenezer fisher jr.. Went on to become. One of the leading universalist ministers of the 19th century. Dean of the theological school at st lawrence in canton new york. I would love to know more. About what motivated his family to make the donation of that clock. I suspect he trained for ministry. Without paying tuition. Under the tutelage of william richey. But that's the supposition. I'd like the paper in our archives about at what i've been able to learn. Time doesn't permit going into all the history back to its earliest years. When one of the deacons. Was first authorized to tune the song. As it says in the church records. And to start the strong music tradition of this parish. Or how that small choir. Set betty help to start your 1938 sat up here on the chancel. With the organ housed over here. And what. Is now the minister study. Just suffice it to say that. The music program. Here has never been more diverse. Or stronger. That it is today. And here week by week. Year after year. Generation following generation. Women and men. Children and elders. Gathered oldest the song of praise. Of life. Difficulties. Gather to affirm and varied words song the time was truth. Respect puts another passage in the book i quoted earlier life is not a problem to be solved. But rather a mystery. To be lived. And genuine love is volition. Not simply emotional. The person who truly loves. Does so because of a decision. Made over and over again. Double oven. Love is the will to extend oneself. For the purpose of nurturing one's own. And another spiritual growth. We learn from the wisdom and experience of the past. We groan inwardly and outwardly. And whether we do it formally or not. We each in our own way. Join our hearts. Get them souls. Praying that when our time is over. That's one of our hymns puts it. Love will be our legacy. And so it is fitting. That we pause once more enjoying our hearts. In the spirit of meditation. Send prayer. Spirit of life and love. You other. I'm center. The mystery of many names. We give thanks. For this beloved community of memory and hope. And for the path. Appraised. That it beckons us on. For the faithful creative lives that have been hurt your career through three long centuries. As we begin now. It's fourth. Bless and guide all who leads this parish. And they're planning and working to keep its doors wide enough to welcome all who need. Human love and fellowship. Narrow enough to shut out all envy and pride and strife. These things and more we would pray in the names of all those. The known and the unknown. The present the absent. The remembered on the forgotten. Who have tried to live. As true service. Of life. And life more abundantly. And often during love. Let's attend to the tolling. Of the paul revere.

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20121028_samhain_katie_lee_sermon.mp3

In the interest of full disclosure i have to admit before you. That i don't like the secular celebration of halloween. I just thought i better own up to that. To be honest i don't know all the reasons. Because i love dressing in costumes and being silly and i love occasionally being naughty. But halloween as it is celebrated. This week is. Isn't for me. And it didn't even work for me as a child i can't begin to explain it. As an adult so i think some of it is because it leaves behind these deep. Religious truths that i think are so beautiful. It's about a distortion of ancient and modern religious traditions that wrestle with two of the biggest theological questions there are. Why do we die. And what happens after that. And it's also for me about. Sometimes capitalizing. On the stories. Who have been called and still call themselves witches. And at the same time. Sometimes demonizing them. For what. We think they believe. I've been told many many times that ministers write the sermons we most need to hear. And i concluded that's what happened to rain this week. For me this season is a reminder that we humans are on a journey of the soul. And that every season in fact every day. Presents us with doorways. To an inner landscape. And each threshold leads to possibility. Each doorway invites us to explore the rich treasures of the spirit. So today's sermon or part of it is a reminder to take time each day. To pay attentions to the longing of the soul. And when necessary make time in your life. For some soul-searching. Is that happens to be what you needed when you came in this morning. Please. Continue all day all week. To reach into your inner landscape. For nourishment and guidance. Perhaps. You all of us. Need to dwell in the what is of the moment. Perhaps all of us. Need and want to harvest soul strength. For plant soul seeds. But for me today also offers a religious history lesson. That traces the evolution of meaning-making around death. Through the centuries. And. Follow the threads that continue to weave through different religious traditions. I certainly haven't named them all this morning. Even though those traditions theme so radically different from one another. I stand before you i am a unitarian universalist. And for myself. I draw upon many sources as i suspect most of you do many sources for inspiration. But to our cornerstones for me personally. The direct experience of mystery and wonder of firmed in all cultures. Which moved me to a renewal of spirit. And an openness to the forces that create and uphold life. And the second cornerstone. Is the spiritual teachings of earth center traditions. Which while not my traditions. Have. Inspired and educated me in many ways. These traditions celebrate the sacred circle of life. And instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature. It is my personal life experience and my own exploration. That. Compel me. To make a conscious commitment to live. Knowing that i am and all of us are part of an interdependent web of all existence. So for me today is about learning from the beliefs and traditions of people who make meanings inspired by the natural world. Ancient polytheist. Celtic christians. And those who today. Practice creation spirituality. And many other. Avenues. Through nature. Into the depths of spirit. It is also i think about the riches i bring from my own earlier religious experiences. In particular my catholic girlhood. So yes. This sermon today the service is about all of those things. And it's about something more. I find myself. Wanting to dwell just a bit longer on the ancient concept. Of what it means to live in an in-between. Time. A both and. Time. A time when we face the reality yet again that change is inevitable. And constant. This congregation has chosen to commit to a two-year interim ministry before calling your next settled minister. This is a.. Of in-between this. Like the shore. And the mist. Either water or air. And the death. Neither day nor night. You are dwelling in in-between this. As a congregation. And i have no doubt. As individuals. You are poised at a threshold. A doorway where you can look back. And harvest the rich treasures of this congregations history. And at the same time. Where you can gaze into the future. And dream. This time is also. A threshold though it's a lot less easy to describe. A threshold where you can look. N-word. And discover again as if. For the first time the soul. Of this congregation. I'm seeing it as i get to know you. As i come and step into this pulpit into this space. There is a soul to this congregation and to every congregation. And just like our own. Sometimes we take it for granted. We forget to pay attention. What to give gratitude. So in this hour together. We've traveled together full-circle. I began by pausing to be fully present in the in-between time. The not yet knowing time. At that point we entered what i call sabbath time. That happens here in this sanctuary every sunday morning at i'm out of time. To pay attention at least for this one hour. To the journey of the soul. And this congregation has. Intentionally and consciously chosen to make its own sabbath time. A time. 2 years. For intentional soul-searching. An interim i. No. Will provide many doorways from which to explore the inner landscape of the soul of this congregation. As well as. Its history and its past. Its history ended. Future. So in the weeks and months to come there will be many opportunities for you to explore possibilities. I will be your guide but only you can make the journey to the future. Which. By design and by discovery. You will be fine. And inhabit. In years to come. So as we bring this. Sabbath time to close. I invite you again. Dwell there. Like the beauty of the last days of autumn. Savor the memory of what was. Except the transmission. Of what is now. And plant. The seeds. That are the future.

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20101114_history_sunday_john_sermon.mp3

The universalist no hell. No hell. Without beginning our fourth. Century. As a congregation. But there were people here in needham who held at universalist faith. 200 years ago. When the paul revere bell was first hung in the steeple. And then some fifty years later halfway back through our history. This parish began to call a series of universalist minister. Their names inscribed over there. Andrew adams. John asbury. George b emerson. In the 1850s. I think it's hard for most of us these days to imagine what's the fear of hell. Mint. To our forebears. It wasn't so much fear about literal personal punishment beyond this life as in. Dante's inferno. Rather was about being separated from one's loved one. Forever. And from. The source of all existence. 61 henry wadsworth longfellow. Living in cambridge went through a terrible tragedy he'd married the beautiful rich fanny appleton she was the mother of his six children. She was taking walks from the children's hair and putting them into envelopes to be sealed with hot wax. When her dress caught fire. Henry ruskin. Tried to save her. Fanny davorns. Longfellow spencer next. 6 years. Translating dante into english. It was cathartic. A century before new england preachers like jonathan edwards had depicted. Human beings as sinners in the hands of an angry god to dangles like spiders over by a thread over the fires of hell. Utterly dependent on god's grace in which many feel the call to salvation but few are chosen. Does calvinism which dominated american religious life by the american religious american revolution. A situation in which only one new englander out of every six actually belong to a church. Being bold enough to seek membership by saying i hope. I suspect. That i am among god's chosen few of course those whose farms and families had somehow escaped. Catastrophe who had prospered material are often the ones who thought themselves. Weather morally or otherwise. Who's so strong. In the revolution. New england was hard-hit. Economically and otherwise needham lost a higher proportion of husbands and fathers. After lexington and concord than any other town in the state. My predecessor samuel west. Number two on the list. Went virtually unpaid. For four years. When you left here to accept the password of boston's affluent brattle street church. Meanwhile out in the hills of central massachusetts. Things were even worse in many congregations many towns went without educated paid clergy for up to a decade. Why people had to wrestle for themselves with. Spiritual anxieties. Lawson. And with the scriptures all along their own. Golden rule oxford massachusetts for example of town just south of wooster a family named davis no relation to jack i think. Did just that. One farmer brother learned almost all of the bible by heart. And astonished people. Whether another was literally the champion wrestler. Worcester county. And their uncle opposition rotatract saying that a good god. Could not be so unloving. Elsa punished even aaron children forever there must be. Are universal. Salvation. Are cousins began preaching the same message. Many felt that the only valid church wasn't one that was set up by the town or the state. The only valid church was one that one joined voluntarily. After an adult decision. In other words they believed in adult believers baptism in adherence. The covenant. These were the owner early universalist who has no one founder. I think the davis clan for example has as much claim as does john murray. The english preacher who came to the universalist. In gloucester in the 1780s. He went out socks for didn't help the people there and then other hilltowns organized. But some 35 of the 130 charter members in oxford were all named davis. Together they hosted the first conventions of american universalist. For spreading rapidly through the new england hill country. Preaching not hell. Butthole. Encourage. This universe was grassroots rebellion against orthodox new england calvinism. Was earlier. Then the more privileged than intellectual rebellion of the unitarian. Who did it started from the top down. Walter universalist. Did it from the bottom up. In the 1820s during the evangelical wave known as america's second great awakening. Universalist countered the hellfire and brimstone fear-mongering by preaching the everlasting love of god. And so effectively that by the end of that decade they could legitimately claim some 600,000 americans under influence. Now mind you mostly they were simply subscribers to the more than 120 newspapers and magazines. But universalist published with their good news. Only about a sixth that many actually belong to universalist congregation. Which began spreading well beyond new england. Matthew hill smith description of how quickly some universalist churches sprang up and then disappeared. Seems to be sadly historically accurate. Contributions went not to the local church after while. But the conventions led by itinerant clergy. Local loyalty. And in the 1840s there was a universalist church. Quite near here. Upper fall. It's minister earning his living as a physician. When he wasn't preaching. He knew the minister of this congregation. Charles doll. And his wife carolyn healey doll. About whom i. Preached on heritage sunday previously carolyn but twenty-four-year-old minister's wife. Who had shocked the local farmers and their wives by publishing a collection of radical essays. Condemn the mexican war. Separate. For attending physician was the senior deacon. He felt that the child's death. What are the judgment of god on the refusal of carolyn and charles. To accept the status quo. As god's will. So he led the effort to oust charles doll from this poll. And then organized. The separate trinitarian congregational church. Here in town. Meanwhile first parish paul's a series of ministers. Who were not as radical as doll. Like the local farmers and unlike the dolls weren't transcendentalist but rather. Down to earth. Inclusive. Loving but not terribly letter. Universalist. Barry and adams emerson. One rodent is called to preach supply in a rural district called needham this morning. Which pretends to be a town. None ever settle here. They rode in from places like somerville. When the civil war broke out many local mothers and wives wonder whether they would be separated forever. From their husbands and sons would gone off to war. And the universalist message was a reassurance. Universal is it also grown closer to the unitarians in there thinking so that universalist clergy serving unitarian parishes was not uncommon. Like the europe early universalist. Leader hosea ballou most were no longer believers in the trinity. They felt jesus save souls more bikes. His example. I'm living. With integrity. And an inclusive. Vision of love. Somebody's dying. They also responded to the objection that their doctrine removed moral restraint by. Kind of giving up on both of his argument that all punishment was in this life. And not at all in the next. Only death and glory. By taking a more moderate position that the most wicked souls would probably have to sit for a while. Contemplating their misdeeds. Rather the way my three-year-old granddaughter sometimes gets. Timeout on what's her mother called the naughty step. Before finally being restored to the presence of. The embracing wall. And their loved ones. Great nineteenth-century agnostic robert ingersoll said. But the only god he could ever believe in. Was it universalist god. String out until child. Has at last come home. Fun quote. Freedom sierra about the next life. Many universalist who began and rather moderate circumstances. Showed courage in advancing. In this one. And did not only good enough but also did well i think of a washburn brothers from livermore maine. Follow the advice of their co-religionists horace greeley and went west as young men. And turn themselves into among the 75 multi-millionaires 303 congressmen one us senator to ambassador's and the founder of general mills. So much for the notion that all universalist were poor. Thomas starr king. A universalist minister who served unitarian churches first in boston and then. In san francisco. Set the reason that the two religious denominations could not combine was not social class. It was that they were too close of kin to ever marry. And for 100 years he was right. Until finally they did combined in 1960. This is the 50th anniversary. For that occasion. I could say a lot more about the universal aside of our heritage. The summer writing my newest book universalist unitarians in america a people's history. I frankly fell in love. With stories of many now forgotten. But once prominent individuals on both sides of our. Religious family tree. Let me close with just one such story. About a universalist business leader. Who flourished. About 80 years ago now. In the fateful year 1929 time magazine. Is man of the year. 101 deyoung. Born in the rural village of van hornesville new york. The only child of the universe was farmfamily owen became at the age of 15 the superintendent of the sunday school in his little home congregation. And then seminarian came molly. From universalist school at st. lawrence in canton new york. And spa is very bright recommended him for a scholarship if his parents would only let him leave the farm. They did a nolan excel st-lawrence met his future wife ruth was the universalist from here in massachusetts. And followed her back this direction after graduation. Harvard law school admitted him. But then turned him away. In september when they learned that he was. Sopori to have to work part-time. While studying law. So we enrolled it bu law school instead. Worked and worked and ferns his degree in just two years. Sunni was a leading young lawyer in the growing field of public utilities. And by his mid-30s general counsel of general electric. Of the board and ceo. Along the way he by-the-way founded rca. And in d.c.. He was such a benevolent business leader. But he advocated benefits for all workers. Pension. Health insurance. Not just a minimum or living wage but what he called a cultural wage. That would allow all workers and their families leisure to contribute to the culture. And to advance their own and their families education. He wanted the government to provide these things not just corporation so that companies wouldn't compete to drive down wages. And then that way or when you're on anticipated many of the provisions. Of the new deal of the 1930s which he supported the popular will rogers in 1929 wanted young to be the democratic nominee for. Good 1932. Not just because you have been prophetic about the dangers overseas second world war twice in the universalist. Businessman peacemaker went to europe. Demands on germany for reparations and reschedule payments. Was squeezing every last pfennig out of the germans lead to the rise of right-wing nationalism. And hitler. Instead. Fdr woods have the charisma. To make the changes needed here in america. And supported him. Because he believed that. If anyone is going to be saved from pain in this life. Then it is a moral and spiritual obligation. To try to see to it. But all can be saved. Meanwhile he was making general name for him. To a new school of international affairs at johns hopkins. To universalism in new york and nationally the universalist national memorial church in washington. Where's a peace tower is named after him. And when the stock market collapse. And young found that his pledges were more than his net worth. He rescheduled things. And kept his obligations to his family. Who is causes. Tourist church. And reduced his own expenses to do so. What moves me most about his story i think is that in the 1950s omg young. Times magazine. Cover man of the year. Could be seen retired in a modest bungalow along route 1. In florida. Tending a grapefruit farm. And selling his produce personally from a stand by the side of the road. To paraphrase one modern universalist absorb the score of the universalist message. But since we're all going to the same place together whether it be florida or heaven. We better learn to treat one another properly. Right in the here and now. Bringing down to earth a little love the eternal and unconditional love that is dante put it. Moves the sun and the other stars. And so should move us. Does universalist still. Soulmate.

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20110522_sacred_dwellings_roberta_nelson_sermon.mp3

He's really harder than i ever thought it was jimmy john's thank you. Thank you very much i've known john a long time. And we have done some wonderful things together for the ua. And i want to thank the music people. Because i remember at his church music was very important. I remember ruth sitting up in that organ. And my husband-to-be. Singing in the choir. So here it is kind of homecoming and is more powerful than i ever imagined. But in a house which becomes a home one hands down and the other takes up. The heritage of mind and heart. Laughter and tears. Using andy's. Love like a carefully loaded ship. Crosses the gulf. Between the generations. So has it been here at first parish for 300 years. I want to start this morning by saying thank you john for inviting me to take part in this. Service. I grew up in the first church in roxbury. Fine older congregation than this one. It was a nurturing congregation that put me on the road to ministry. But it was this congregation that taught me how to minister. My preparation for this morning was an opportunity to remember and reflect. I know the people and learning. The relationships in stories. That have contributed to my ministry. Age of the churches i have served. The sanctuary became sacred space for me. It is a holy place. A space for our deepest yearnings and honest reflections. And is made sacred. By what we do here. A place to celebrate a life well-lived. To welcome a child into the community. When people marry to it is a place where we go in times of sorrow and anger and despair. Here in this space. Serenity can prevail. Can we can gain insight. And perspective. Here we can be fed. Thai music. Poetry and silence. Come into the circle of love and justice. Come into this community of mercy. Holiness and help. Come and you shall know peace and joy. Write israel's annual. I arrived here in 1959. A group of parents wanted a program for their preschool children. They sent margaret got hard and liz kyle on a mission. To find someone who could help them to create and maintain such a program. There's searched open to tufts university. To the nursery training school of boston. And a cranefield logical school. It was for me to be a temporary position. I had plans to study in england the following year it wasn't long before i was asked to be the director of religious education it was a fast climb on the ladder if he came as significant. And i stayed for 14 years. And i will share with you how i came to say those fourteen years. Coming to first marriage from boston on sundays with a challenge because i could only get as far as west roxbury. By public transportation. And i did not drive and did not own a car. Arthur oakman okay as we called him volunteered to pick me up at the bus station. And bring me back later in the day. I was often invited to the open for lunch. I was totally naive. Then their daughters. Decided to play cupid. And they were extremely successful as you can see. They had a video they had introduced. And the hit introduced christopher's parish. And he moved to need them because of this. I didn't know that. He was singing in the choir. And three daughters played. Cupid on a weekly basis. I was invited for lunch i was invited to other activities probably the most memorable was the ice skating. I wondered not own ice skates. I too had never been on a skateboard and i was dressed for sunday morning and i gave all of these logical excuses. Which were not received. Have no fear says one of them we have your skates. We have some snow pants and so the story goes. It wasn't long before they didn't need any help to getting us together. Chris and i were married here 51 years ago. And all three of our daughters were dedicated here. And it was much sadness and tears. To all of us in the family when chris was transferred to the environmental protection agency in washington dc. Although i was not ordained until 1980 it took many years to recognize them. This congregation taught me what ministry was all about. Including how to engage with the community and how to bring about change. The congregation was actively involved in the community when i arrived. They are participating in a project to make sure that people of color had equal access to housing. They were embarrassed that i was embarrassed as they were embarrassed to discover that the needham nike base commander had not been shown housing in this town. Because he couldn't afford it because he was a black man. He was considered inappropriate. The neighborhood. Hard to believe these many years later. Chris and i took part. And one of the agents we spoke to because we were looking for a house. Assured us that he was doing everything in his power. She keep black people out. Shocking for me i grew up in the city of boston. Parents were close friends of people of color and so are my brother and i. The fair housing project opened my eyes to a new world. The congregation kol wholeheartedly supported jacks or high when he went south to participate in the demonstrations. His arrest along with others was a was one more sobering indication how difficult moving beyond segregation was going to be. This church community also was involved with metco. A program where children from city schools were paired with families in the suburbs. And went to school in this community. Needham was one of the first communities to open its doors to the program. We became a family. And our daughters were hose to a girl their age. I do not remember the chronological order of some of the issues that first parish was involved in. But this congregation has left its mark on the community. By always putting his face into action. For example during an economic economic downturn. Several people at first parish lost their jobs. Their response was to form a support group for the unemployed. The word spread. And soon gbh the public television station was out here photographing them and listening to their conversation which they then showed on television. At the height of vietnam war first harris struggled long and hard. Whether or not to go public about their opposition. Eventually the congregation voted to prepare a statement which was published in the local newspaper. Perhaps one of the most moving events that we experience. In this community. Was on the evening of the day that john kennedy was assassinated. The steeple bell was told by several for several hours. On rotation by people in this congregation and members of the community who came to mourn his death. Two jewish congregations one reform to the other conservative. Had their beginnings here at first parish. And continue to meet here until their own buildings were complete. They truly felt welcomed and respected find this congregation. First parish and the congregational church but concerned about the need for sexuality education. I persuaded two of the town's doctors. Both deceased now. Seymour sacks in obgyn. And sumner hoffman a pediatrician to join us and planning a series of three open meetings. For youth and their parents. It was a great success much to my much to my horror i thought we would be. Tired and feathered the adults were amazed at the breadth as this always happens. The adults were made to the breadth and the depth of the kinds of questions they're teenagers us. And that kind of answers they expected to get. First parish was one of the first uu congregation. To embrace sexuality education with the you anyways about your sexuality. For me the most profound learning experience i had. Was a request from a member of this congregation. Who invented been diagnosed with an incurable disease. And he wanted me to help him learn to live. While he was dying. It was for me the most profound journey i have ever taken. I read a great deal took several courses with elisabeth kubler-ross the physician who opens the door to having conversations about death and dying. Chris and ivan led many groups here at first parish and later and other churches that i served. The request let us to design a course that we led. To help him and a number of other people. Who are confronting the same issues. I will be forever grateful. For the opportunity and the appreciation of that profound sharing that took place. The community school under the guidance of fred presley was one of the most creative adult education programs i have ever participated in. And eventually it became an all age program. Fili wey felted describing how he brought that program into being. New numerous repairs members were deeply engaged in this community. For example dorothea loses we called her one of the first women doctors in massachusetts. Was a founder of the needham a council on aging. And a guiding light. Planting of north hill. Leslie cutler was the first woman selectmen for the town. And also the first woman selectmen in the state. I remember the time she was being interviewed by our teenagers. Brave woman that she was questioned about being a republican giving her liberal views on so many issues. She responded then i cannot do it justice. Some members of my party a reactionary they are not. Conservative. At her memorial service here is first parish the governor said. That you would never say from leslie. Not even in the men's room. And i can't believe it. Much has been much has taken place in this religious house. We are nurtured by commitment. And its openness and willingness to change. From the beginning. This congregation nurtured my dreams and visions. Have a church community. This is sacred space for me. It was here i learned to be a wife. Mother a minister. It was not all serious and zamora it was lots of fun. We had intergenerational retreats it went on for two and a half days. I was thrilled to take part in the weddings of young people who had grown up in his congregation. Extra present when someone died. And who participated in a memorial service. Num nom store. All right over here. To this conversation with kings drugstore. In a conversation with mr. kennedy. I realize that the money intended by the parents for the children put in a church group collection. Being spent. Handy. Even my own daughter's later confessed to having guns. Shortly after i started working here this fire department told us we had to clean out the attic. Seems like a strange job for josh but. Zadok was creating a fire hazard. Can you play i want to save and what to throw away less us nearing the deadline with no action. A person who shall remain nameless. Took it upon himself to come to the church very early on several saturday mornings. Fill his station wagon with fangs from for disposal and take them to the dump. Within just a few weeks the fire department gave us. The okay to use the building. No one ever said a word and complained i'm not sure they ever knew that we aquino that he had cleaned out the attic. For me. The church is sacred space and holy ground. I have been in love with this team for a long time. It had its beginnings when i took part in the development. Abahani house curriculum in the 70s. It was during that time that i experienced. But the church it was just another home. And many of my readings about home i can easily translate. Was substitute search. Church. Church has to do with that continuities. Church is those people and experiences that nourish our identities. Consist of those routes. And sources. So what's your energies of faith. And hope and love for the 4th. Churches giving and forgiving. Angus maclane in the devil and the. God and the devil and seal cove rights. I deeply cherish that memory of that little bit of earth. For i began to have my being. Invite you to close your eyes. A short space of time. Lettuce. Recall the experiences we've had here at first parish. What do you remember. What have you shared. Who has made a difference in your life. What are your anticipation. Can you get in touch with the sights. And the sound. The smells and the ceiling of your recollection. The search her place to be at home is a persistent theme in the religions of humankind. Memories that can be located. In a distinct and vivid place. I'm more accessible to our awareness than those lost in space. It is or at least it ought to be. Instrumental in our transition from being too well being. Gaston bachelard in his book the poetics of space suggest. The houses and i would add churches. Help us to feel at home. Because they shelter us in three ways. They protect our solitude and provide us with a place to dream. They protect our intimacy with others. And they give our memories a home. Our memories shape into experiential. They give structure and justification for the present. And they create a field of meaning and which we plays the hearing now. An authentic spiritual life. Assumes that we start exactly where we are. And at home or church. For each of us has lived at the center. All the creative tension between the demands of our daily living. And i need for moments of insight. And beauty. Our haunting houses and sacred dwelling. Speak of continuity of place and people. Here are our loved ones. Here is where iheart abides. In these places we grow up. In-n-out. And old. Hear parents die. Children leave. Sconces change. Friendships crystallized. Can we huddle against darkness and despair. Here we honor our yearnings. Renew our friendships. And continue out pilgrimage toward wholeness. Here we can be rooted and restored. Here we can make life and love happen. We need on holy ground. That place is holy we live touch. Love moves helpsters. How much we need this moment before the eternal. The time to be a reference before the ultimate. The pause that renews. The interlude which refreshes. The space that gives us room to be. We made on holy ground. Brought into life as life and counters life. As personal histories. Merge into the communal story. As we take on the pride and the pain of our companions. Except ourselves become community. How desperate is i need for one another. Our silent second innings to our neighbors. Our invitations to share life and death together. Are welcome into the lives of those we meet. And they're welcome into our own. May our souls capture this. Treasure time. May our spirit celebrate our meeting. In this time and in this holy place. We meet. On holy ground. From my college richard gilbert.

uuneedham_org

20120429_de-installation_john_charge_to_the_congregation_laurel_hallman.mp3

John has asked me to come today to speak to you from the perspective of your future. That may seem impossible since especially since i will tell you the experience which makes me qualified to speak to you from your future. But it was in 1987 that the reverend doctor john buren's was called to all souls unitarian universalist church in new york city. And left his position as senior minister of the first unitarian church of dallas. He and gwen actually said goodbye on christmas eve in 1986 in a service much like this one. Full of joy. Sadness. Appreciation and celebration. Little could they have known that a few months later in 1987 they would be welcoming me. As their new senior minister. Now john because he's already told me this. John would like me or you today. To remind you that you have a bright future ahead of you. He wants me to say for my special perspective and everything will be fine. And. I will get to that. But before that i want to say just a few things from my perspective. You will miss him. You will miss gwen. That may seem obvious but i mean you will miss them as individuals and as a congregation. The ways he has changed how you are together. What do you do when you are together the spirit of this place when you are together you will miss. I know this is true because after i arrived in dallas i could sense something was missing. There was something i couldn't. Put my finger on. Like so many others in similar situation i was so focused on new beginnings. I didn't see the elephant in the room. And that was a great big ending that had occurred before i arrived before i was even chosen. I thought the people who were so welcoming and excited about my ministry and they were. I think we all thought we would get right to it. I was quick to see what needs to be. During my first year there. I've been told there were wonderful leaders wonderful members in that congregation actually told me that. I was eager to know them. I was full of energy for my new post. And we're pleased to have me there i send some. Reticence. Perhaps it's because i'm a woman i thought. There were very few women in the ministry thank goodness barbara was one of them but. We have lots of shared experiences of being 12 of the fumant women in the ministry at that time. Cluding losing our place. Remember it's because i'm a short woman. But then in a moment of deep inside i thought. Perhaps it's because they missed john and gwen. It could have been all of the above but today these 25 years later i spent 22 of them in my ministry in dallas and it turned out to be a wonderful match. Now these 25 years later i realize they were grieving. Not only as individuals but as a congregation. It was subtle. It came out in people deciding to sit back awhile before they would fully re-engage in the life of the church. Watch a bit. Maybe see how things go. Not startup new projects too fast. Not do the kind of spirited commitment that comes naturally when you feel you are part of something larger than ourselves. When you feel that what is here is good. This from voice from your future. Says as john fully believes you will be fine. This congregation has an arc of leadership and commitment that is long and strong. You have accomplished much in john's time with you. And that won't go away. I believe that the work of those who go before us in our future so deeply that sometimes we can't see it but it's there. Shaping us and our future even when we might not see it ourselves. But in the moments that you're tempted to wait. And see. Or think that what comes next. Can't possibly possibly be as good as what has been. No that is an expression of your very real and tangible law. I have known john and gwen for long long time. I can't believe they're leaving. As i talked with john about plans for today i found out i had a catch in my throat. It won't be the same here in this church but you're in this area at harvard in ministers meetings at. Many many many other places. He won't be the same here without them. But the mission of this church. The mission of this church. Remains the same. There are people who will come next week. Perhaps with their children. Who need our faith. Read our work who need us. There will be people coming who are lost who are spiritually adrift. They will need this free church and all that you have. Next week. And it all the ways to come. I promise you in time a new minister will come. Love you too be with you enjoy and sorrow and it will be quite possible to love what you and john have done here together and love your new mr2. Big enough for everybody. Several years ago a rabbi at temple emanu-el in dallas at one of our congregations high celebrations. Would knowing the church through several ministries. The rabbi said. May you move from strength to strength. And that is what i say today. John and gwen. May you move. From strength. Destroying. Into this congregation gathered here. The same for you. May you move as i know you will. May you move. From strength to strength. In all the days to come.

uuneedham_org

20121125_JLA_christian.mp3

Unitarian universalism is a living faith. We think that people should be free to believe what they must believe. The truth of their life experiences instead of professing a belief and what we are told to believe. This is what we mean when we say ours is a creed lewis religion. Being a living faith means that anyone of us can change what we believe if we experience a deeper truth that contradicts our previous beliefs. But in order to change you have to be open to new thoughts new ideas. A new experience. You have to have your ears open to hear the experiences of the people with whom you are in community. There is a saying that people were created with two years in one mouth. Because we should listen twice as much as we speak. When we come together in community we have the opportunity to listen to each other. And gain a perspective greater than what we would have alone. Sometimes we listen with our ears. When you are part of a sacred beloved community you listen not only with your ears but also with your heart. A listening heart has the power to help us. Be better people. And this comes the story. In 1948 most congregations and houses of worship in the united states were segregated. By the color of their members skin. Somewhere by law others by custom or by a lack of actively trying to welcome include all people. The first unitarian society of chicago was one of these congregations. Do their shirts with located in neighborhood with many african americans. Only whites to join. According to the written bylaws of the church and according to custom. Many members began to believe they needed to take action against racism if they really wanted to live their values and principles. The minister the reverend leslie pennington. Was ready for this day and ready to take action. And so was a man named jim. Better known some of us as james luther adams. A famous liberal theologian and social ethicist. Dr. adams taught at the meadville lombard theological school right across the street from his church. And he was a member of the congregations board of directors. Along with some others these two men propose a change in the church's bylaws to desegregate the church. You're welcome people whatever the color of their skin. They wanted to include not exclude. When the congregation's board of directors considered the desegregation proposal most supported it. The one member of the board objective. Your new program is making desegregation into a creed. He said. You're asking everyone in our church to say they believe desegregating. Inviting even recruiting people of color to attend church here is a good way to tackle racism. What if some members don't agree. Respectful debate ensued. It was one of those church meetings that go till the wee hours of the morning. Both sides felt in their hearts that their belief was rights. Perhaps they were so busy trying to be heard they forgot to listen and so they kept talking. The debate went on and on everyone was exhausted and frustrated. And finally. James luther adams remembered. We should be listening twice as much as talking. So he asked the person who voiced the strongest objection. What do you say is the purpose of this church. Suddenly everyone listened. Everyone wanted to hear the answer to this question. Probably the person who objected was listening especially hard to his own hard. As well as to the words he had heard from other board members through the long discussion. Finally he replied. Okay gem. The purpose of this charge is to get hold of people like me. And change them. The church successfully desegregated. There are things that you know and there are things that i know. When we are together and listening to each other. With our ears and our hearts. Queen amor. Anderson's ar reading.