Sermons

READING ~ Spiritual Attitude By Rev. Mike Davis, Maverick Minister – Blogger at maverickminister.com

What is the definition of attitude?

PERSONAL VIEW OF SOMETHING: an opinion or general feeling about something a positive attitude to change

BODILY POSTURE: a physical posture, either conscious or unconscious, especially while interacting with others

CONSCIOUS ASSERTIVENESS: an arrogant or assertive manner or stance assumed as a challenge or for effect (informal) a streetwise teenager with an attitude

AEROSPACE: orientation of aircraft's axes: the angle of an aircraft in relation to the direction of the airflow or to the horizontal plane

What is the definition of spiritual attitude?

I think it is closest to the Aerospace definition. That is to say that when a pilot is flying an aircraft he/she must be aware not only of where the aircraft is going, but also how it is oriented to the forces and dynamics which make an impact on it, so that it stays level and continues in a smooth flight path. Likewise, spiritual attitude helps us to be aware of how we are oriented in our awareness of God and the people who are a part of our life so that we too can remain level and move smoothly and without barriers toward the kind of life we are seeking.

 

READING ~ Kate Darbyshire Evans – Blogger at finerthingking.com

Attitude changes everything. Change your attitude and you can change your life. You cannot always control what happens to you in life but you can always control how you respond to the challenges or difficult situations you encounter. The attitude you approach anything with is entirely your choice. The way you choose to respond mirrors your attitude and so by changing your attitude you can change your perspective and change your life. Your attitude reflects the way you see the world and how you live in it.

 

SERMON

You have heard it said – “Change your attitude, Change your life.”

Sometimes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t.

Sometimes, if it sounds too easy, it probably isn’t.

An attitude is deeply embedded.

We carry an attitude about this and that and the other thing – that attitude has developed over time to where it is at this moment.  That is the case, really, for good or for ill.

Of course, attitude – and here I’m talking about attitude as the attitude that is our personal view of things, our opinions and our beliefs – evolves as we grow in both age and experience.  But attitudes can’t be changed like we change our socks …. Black one day and argyle the next to fit our mood or the way we want to present ourselves to the world.  Changing our attitude is more complicated and, for most of us, it takes a real determination and effort to change an attitude that is deeply embedded.

My sermon question this morning is “Is a Change of Attitude Possible?”

I want to say that the answer is – yes, of course it’s possible to change our attitude.

A colleague of mine observed for me upon hearing about today’s sermon title that before we can even consider changing an attitude that we hold, we must understand where it comes from and what exactly it is and how it has served us and why we might even want to change it.  Once we have examined these factors, then it may be possible to consciously work toward changing an attitude.

Before we can contemplate changing an attitude, we need to understand that attitude.  Before we can contemplate changing an attitude, we need to be clear about why we want to change it.  The only reasons to change an attitude is if a different attitude would be more beneficial to us in important ways OR if a current attitude has ceased to benefit us and maybe even is causing harm.

When I decided to talk about change in terms of our attitudes, I was - not surprisingly – thinking about how challenging our current political and social climate is and how we might be deeply impacted by whatever happens as a result of Tuesday’s voting.

I have attitudes about lots of things related to voting and elections and our current social and political climate

My attitude about the right to vote being balanced by the responsibility to vote is pretty strong.

My attitude toward conspiracy theories regarding alleged voter fraud and stolen elections is also pretty strong.

My attitude about White Christian Nationalism is that it is perhaps the most dangerous threat to our country.

My attitude toward the need to preserve freedom of the press and to hold that press accountable for honest reporting is pretty strong.

My attitude toward candidates and the people who vote for them is also pretty strong.

Do I want to change any of these attitudes in order to make my own life better?

Certainly I do not want to abandon my attitude about the rights and responsibilities of voting.

Honestly, I have almost no patience toward fake news and conspiracy theories that are tearing apart our democracy and I doubt that I will see any value in changing or even softening my attitude about that.

The last one … this has to do with my attitude toward people.

For me, this is where it gets hard.

I am frightened by some candidates, and I am frightened by what I think they might do if elected.  I feel that my personal safety and liberty are at risk if too many of these people gain elective office.

I am angry with candidates who lie about really important issues and facts.

I deeply disagree with candidates who want to abolish government, government services and government regulations.

My attitude toward the people promoting things I distrust or distain – most of whom I do not know – is not very positive, in fact, it’s downright negative.

Now, I ask myself – Is this ok?  Do I want or need to change my attitude?

Holding on to my current attitude benefits me in some ways.  See if you can relate to any of this ….

I feel that I am right and those who disagree with me are wrong.

I can become self-righteous about how my beliefs and opinions are better, more humane, and more loving than those of the folks whose beliefs and opinions are nearly a complete opposite of mine.

The depth and strength of my attitude helps keep me focused and determined to see that my vision of the world prevails.

Does any of that resonate with you in your life as we approach Tuesday’s voting?

What damage does my current attitude promote or permit?

Well, I have no close friends whose opinions are opposite of mine.

I steer clear of family members who I place in the camp of opposing me and my life.

I think, though that the greatest harm lies is in lumping a whole lot of people into one group, demonizing the group and then ceasing to care very much about the well-being of the members of that group.

That attitude is not something I am proud of.

I remember John Pavlovitz’s admonition… If God is love, don’t be a jerk.

Am I being a jerk unnecessarily?

I really have no desire to change my attitude about the justice issues we face and the need to protect and strengthen our democracy.

The question is – Do I want to change my attitude about the people?

I honestly don’t know.

How about this question:  Can I maintain my critical attitude about the fake news, alternative facts and huge lies about democracy and people different from themselves and still practice love beyond belief, still promote the inherent worth and dignity of all?

I honestly don’t know - -  but I think the question is worth asking and trying to answer.

I would like to gain an attitude that is more generous and loving toward people without changing my beliefs and opinions about the world I want to live in.

This is hard.  It’s not enough to say, “Change your attitude, Change your life.”  Or  “Change your attitude, Change the world.”

It takes real effort and a willingness to be suspicious of my own certainty and self-righteousness about what is good and what is not good; who is good and who is not good.

Is it possible to change an attitude?  Yes.  But it can be hard work.  Change can be uncomfortable, even painful.  In management theory, I learned that people change only when the pain of not changing exceeds the pain of the change.  Most of us are resistant to change that may alter what we do and how we see the world and other people.

The political landscape is just so full of land mines right now that we may not be able to travel through it safely.

Let me offer a another context for this discussion.

When Maine was going through our many years of actually voting on the rights of LGBTQ people, attitudes did shift and change.

You may remember that the approach that worked best was not the argument about general human dignity or legal precedent or economic advantage of an engaged workforce or the history of equality.  The approach that worked was changing hearts and minds one story at a time, one person at a time.  When enough individuals begin to shift their attitudes because their hearts and minds have been opened, the whole culture shifts.

Changing an attitude about a whole group of people requires individual knowledge and expanded experience.

If a person, for example, has grown up believing that their God rules all of life and that their religion ought to rule our nation, it is hard to see non-believers as worthy and valuable and equal to those who do believe.

The group we do not belong to might be about any number of things

A different first language

A different religion

A different sense of what constitutes good food

A different approach to medicine and healthcare

A different body type

A different education or profession

A different citizenship status

On and on – you get the picture.

As we stay in our protected enclaves of comfort and sameness, our attitudes about people in the OUTSIDE group can become hardened.

We are the IN group and ‘those people’ are the OUT group.

I can see this happening with others.

It is harder to see it in myself.

When I do see it – do I need to change my attitude?

I think it is worth asking ourselves whenever an attitude demonizes or somehow discounts others.

Let me go back to something that our second blogger – the maverick minister, Mike Davis, said about attitude.  He wants us to pay attention to our spiritual attitude.

Spiritual attitude is where are in space, our relative placement in the world.  He describes this attitude using aircraft as an example – the attitude of an aircraft: the angle of an aircraft in relation to the direction of the airflow or to the horizontal plane.

OK, a bit wonky, but it works.

To maintain the plane’s location in space, the pilot makes adjustments to the angle of the plane as it reacts to airflow and other dynamic factors.

Our spiritual attitude, he says, is like this.  We want to maintain our balance and our orientation to the divine and creation.  Our spiritual attitude is about how we determine our place in the interdependent web of existence.  It is important that our spiritual attitude is in alignment with the way we want to be in the world.  We make adjustments in our attitude in order to be oriented toward the world we want to create and inhabit.

The world we want to create and inhabit.  A world where people are valued. A world where climate matters.  A world where success is not determined by zip code or as an accident of birth.  A world where justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

As long as my attitude or attitudes are reflections of the vision of the world I want to create and of the person I want to be in that world, then my spiritual attitude is still on course and may not need to change.

If, however, I discover that my external attitudes are not on the same horizontal plain as my spiritual attitude or that my spiritual attitude itself has lost balance, then I ought to undertake the work to change.

Two thoughts from men who knew something about attitude:

The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes. William James

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. Viktor E. Frankl

May we choose our attitude carefully and deliberately so that we are actively creating the world we want to inhabit.

Blessed Be.   I Love You.   Amen.