Sermons

READING ~ from “The Embers and the Stars” by Czech philosopher Erazim Kohak

“...Certainly, humans can become wholly absorbed in the preoccupations of time. As there are humans who are color-blind, so there can be humans who become blind to goodness, to truth and flowers without pausing to give thanks, who accept joy and grief as all in a day’s work, to be enjoyed or managed, without ever seeing the presence of eternity in them. But that is not the point. What is crucial is that humans, whether they do so or not, are capable of encountering a moment not simply as a transition between a before and an after but as the miracle of eternity ingressing into time. That, rather than the ability to fashion tools, stands out as the distinctive human calling. Were it not for humans who are able to see it, to grieve for it and to cherish it, the goodness, beauty, and truth of creation would remain wholly absorbed in the passage of time and pass with it. It is our calling to inscribe it into eternity.”

SERMON

A Buddhist koan asks the question:

“What is the sharpest sword or the sword which will split even the finest piece of hair?”

The response is:

“Each branch of coral holds up the moon.”

That is the sharpest of swords & the most important insight.

But, let me begin with a story about three men who went into the jungle each encountered a chameleon, for the 1st time. Returning, each described what they saw, the 1st man described the chameleon as red. But the 2nd man said, “No, the chameleon is green, I am sure of it.” To which the 3rd man said, “Nonsense, the chameleon I saw was brown.”

This, for me, is exactly like 3 people from different religious perspectives trying to describe what religious truth looks like. No one - seems able to accept the other’s views as their truth. Nor does anyone want to give up their understanding of religious truth or, it seems today, political views in the face of someone with a different viewpoint.

The irony is that Pluralism, within religion, does not require us to give up our commitments to our religious views. Rather, it opens us up to the challenge of mutual growth & transformation.

When I transferred into the UU Ministry from Lutheranism, in 1981 what I found and fell in love with, was a faith tradition deeply committed to religious Pluralism. It enriched, ennobled & transformed my faith.

Our rich, UU living-tradition has roots deep in: Jewish, Christian & Humanist traditions. Over the years we have been inspired in our ethical & spiritual life by the teachings of these 3 traditions. Yet, our UU tradition hasn’t stopped there, it also draws from the wisdom of many other religious traditions. As early as the 1800’s U & Uists were influenced by Eastern religions & more recently by various Earth Centered traditions.

It is not only our UU Movement that has been broadened by these religious traditions. Most Americans have been influenced by contact with world religions. The Dali Lama refers to the U.S. as a “Spiritual Supermarket.”

Having grown up with many Scandinavians in WI, I like to visualize our religious eclecticism as a religious smorgasbord of spiritual options. One of the things that has allowed this to happen in the U.S. was our U.S. Bill of Rights. It not only protects our freedom of religion & from religion, but it also gives us the freedom to pick & choose among the many religious perspectives before us. The U.S. was never a nation of one religion.

Our particular UU faith – is a complex blending of Eastern & Western Religions along with ancient earth based religions & at the same time we are influenced by new scientific discoveries & theories. Thomas Jefferson, one of our political & religious ancestors claimed that our spirits are naturally inclined to think freely & weigh various options. Most genuine religious convictions are formed as a result of wide-ranging & free exploration. Is it any wonder that Jefferson identified with the Unitarian Movement, though he never joined. Indeed, we UUists have a long heritage of being open to religious eclecticism.

How many hyphens describe your spiritual orientation? Are you a UU-Christian, a UU-Humanist, a UU-Jew, a UU-Buddhist, a UU-Pagan, a UU-Atheist a UU-Theist? Or something else? To be sure, most of us aren’t satisfied with just   one hyphen. I refer to my theological orientations as Mystical-Humanist with neo-Pagan & Panentheistic leanings.

Even among mainline Christians & liberal Jews there are people who hyphenate their beliefs with Buddhism, Humanism, Earth Based Religions & other options. It is difficult for people to avoid the influences of the rich & varied religious traditions all around us.

I did a wedding some years ago where the Groom’s mother was Roman Catholic from Belgium & his father was Jewish. The Bride’s mother was Protestant & her father was Hindu. We had a delightful time merging their religious traditions into a beautiful pluralistic ceremony.

Add to that, I officiated at a child dedication for non UUs where the mother was Christian and the father was Muslim. They wanted someone who could understand & appreciate their unique family. No surprise, they came to a UU minister for help.

Yet, I try to be careful & thoughtful in how I take part in rituals from other religious traditions. I always asked a UU with Jewish roots to blow the Jewish Shofar at Rosh Hashanah. But what about using Buddhist bowls or chimes in our services. Do I have the right to do so? Or for that matter how do we celebrate Hanukkah or pagan holidays like the Day of the Dead? Are we appropriating such rituals, symbols & teachings if we are not from those traditions or believe in the basics of that faith? This can lead to a real & lively debate among UUists.

We need to be thoughtful & act with respect when we explore another religious tradition & not pretend that we are something we are not.  At the same time, it is important to remember that all religions are literally built on earlier religious traditions.

I remember visiting some Mayan religious ruins during one of my sabbaticals. I went into a beautiful and large Roman Catholic Church that was literally, built on top of a Mayan temple. Which is not surprising because when Christians came to new areas & they realized they couldn’t just replace the existing religions with their own, they often absorbed many of the early gods, spirits & traditions into their own practices.

Which brings me back to merging or hyphenating our religions with others. It is important to ask ourselves the question: Are we, am I, appropriating the symbols & rituals of other religions or am I trying to show respect for the deep insights I gain  from visiting another faith?

Back in 2000, I participated in the Shalem Institute, an interfaith Spiritual Direction program, & became one of their adjunct faculty. Each year, I supervised some of the new residents in doing Spiritual Direction. It was typical for me to supervise a rabbi or a Christian minister or a Roman Catholic Sister. I would often stop to marvel, Here, I, a UU minister and I was mentoring them, in how to do Spiritual Direction.

During that time, one of my favorite books on Spiritual Direction was, “Show Me Your Faith,” by Rabbi Howard Addison. His book was a guide to exploring interfaith Spiritual Direction. Addison believes in the benefits of interfaith Spiritual Direction. He, himself, received Spiritual Direction from members of the Roman Catholic order of the Sisters of the Cenacle.

People of all religious perspectives need to remember that we are all constantly standing on holy ground, whenever we explore, talk about or participate in the elements of other religious traditions. The earth we walk on is shared holy ground never given to any one group.

So, the question: What is the sharpest sword? A sword so sharp it can split a hair? In a spiritual sense - we are asking: what is of ultimate importance? The answer: “Each Branch of Coral Holds up the Light of the Moon,

What a beautiful image. Each of you, may know more about coral than I do. You may have memories of seeing the moon reflected by a bed of coral lying below a calm sea. each branch reflecting a portion of the light of the moon. Each life form, our own included, & that of any and all other sentient beings reflect a portion of the light not only of the moon, but of the universal meaning & purpose of life, something to ponder as people continue to kill people for their religious or political beliefs. We can draw lessons from each religion. Our religion as well as others, reflect light on a portion of the path to spiritual deepening.

In 1990, I attended the International ARF Congress. What a rich & colorful tapestry of festive events, outstanding speakers, small circle groups composed of participants from around the globe & worship services that spanned the entire range of spirituality from Shinto to Christian to Buddhist, Hindu, UU & so much more. There were small groups where we learned that though our approaches, forms & styles of religious expressions varied greatly, we were all striving to make meaning & sense out of common universal life issues.

When we participate in a religious tradition or ritual from another tradition we need to honor the tradition from which it came & only then can we see what new light it might shed. Doing so, we may find that it sheds new light & meaning on something from our own religious tradition in new ways. Indeed religious history is full of illustrations of fantastic transformations caused by spiritual cross fertilization.

Early Christianity was born out of a mixture of Hebrew, Roman & Greek traditions. In turn each of these traditions absorbed & adopted rituals from earlier traditions. In China, Buddhism was deeply colored by Confucianism. In Japan Shintoism incorporated not only Confucianism but Taoism and Buddhism. Sikhism was born out of Hinduism & Islam. Islam shares much with Judaism & Christianity.

I remember when visiting Israel & Palestine in 2008 with a Compassionate Listening Group made up of Rabbis, Imams, Christian Ministers and me a UU Mystical Humanist Minister. We were at Abraham’s tomb in Hebron, a bustling city of about 200,000 in the West Bank. The Muslim, Jewish & Christians  all claim Abraham as their spiritual ancestor. Three of my colleagues from the 3 different traditions were talking about the tomb & how it had been visited & worshiped in common by Jews, Muslims & Christians but in 1994 a Jewish settler shot & killed 29 Palestinian worshippers. After that, the space was divided by bulletproof glass. The Imam lamented, that tragic history & then said, “but we all worship the same god,” then he looked over at me affectionately & said “or whatever name Charles uses.”

Let us remember there is no pure religion, all religions have adopted elements from other religious traditions. So, even as no one branch of coral holds up the entire reflection of the moon. No one religion reflects the entire light of spiritual truth & meaning.

Fr. Thomas Berry, explained to a group of us in a seminar that divine inspiration is like a great underground river. Each religion or wisdom tradition digs into this underground river & taps into that divine wisdom. Unfortunately, each often get the sense that their well is the one & only way to tap into divine wisdom. In reality all religions tap into that same underground river, just at different places & in vastly different ways.

Our Unitarian tradition started out as Channing Christianity, our Universal tradition was shaped by John Murrey whose father was an Anglican & whose mother was a Presbyterian, He became a Methodist but soon adopted Universalism. The Transcendentalists & Free Religionists pulled us away from strict Christianity.

During the early decades & most of the past century we oriented largely toward a religious humanist perspective, but, our movement, always open to religious pluralism continues to expand and change. I may not always like some of the changes, but, I personally believe that our openness to religious pluralism can be our cutting edge as an evolving religious tradition.

The Dali Lama said that whether we believe in God or not, doesn’t matter so much, whether we believe in reincarnation or not does not matter so much. What we are called to do is  lead a good life. What is needed is good motivation like compassion without dogmatism, without complicated philosophy just understanding that all people are our siblings. And, we need to respect their rights and dignity, that is basic to our religious principles. A life giving & saving capacity of humans is that we can help each other. We can share in the sufferings & in the joys of others. It matters less if we call it a religion or not. The important point is that it becomes a bridge between cultures rather than a barrier.

Religions of the world are important and they need to share their resources, both material & spiritual, much the way this congregation is doing. It is when we work together to spread compassion & healing that we demonstrate our awareness that in our wounded and broken world we, like each branch of coral can hold up and reflect the light.