Sermons

READING “Mornings At Blackwater” – Mary Oliver, from Red Bird
For years, every morning, I drank
from Blackwater Pond.
It was flavored with oak leaves and also, no doubt,
the feet of ducks.
And always it assuaged me
from the dry bowl of the very far past.
What I want to say is
that the past is the past,
and the present is what your life is,
and you are capable
of choosing what that will be,
darling citizen.
So come to the pond,
or the river of your imagination,
or the harbor of your longing,
and put your lips to the world.
And live
your life.

READING “A Year Begins Today” – Robert Weston
A year is gone.
It matters not when it began
For it has ended now.
There were other years,
And some began with a birthday
And some with a death;
Some with one day of the month and some with another.
Some began with a song and others with a lament,
But today I start another year, whatever the month or season;
It is what lies before me that concerns me now.
There will be decisions and tasks;
There will be drudgery, achievement and defeat;
There will be joy and grief,
All the raw stuff of experience
Waiting for me to shape, to fashion as I will,
And it will never become just what I planned.
However it may appear to others
I can turn it to knowledge and wisdom
Or folly.
If it be hard, I can make of it strength:
It may become bone, sinew and steel
Or ashes and waste.
Some one might say, “It all depends on what the year may bring,”
But what I make of it depends on me.

SERMON
“Letting Go. Hanging On. Bringing In.” Rev. Margaret A. Beckman
“Taking Stock” –a reflection
To every one of us, there come those times
We need to clean the disheveled closets
Otherwise known as our lives.
Pull out the old anxieties, antagonisms, disappointments,
And if we don’t completely throw them in the trash,
At least re-examine them. Re-stock, re-store,
So they are no longer in the way
Of all those items we can actually put to use.
Those most beloved to us–
Loved ones,
Gifts we find most joy in sharing,
Little bits of wisdom
We must surely have acquired along the way–
Store those in front.
There’s only so much shelf space.
Let us not waste it
With the worn-out refuse of our lives.
Pull out those necessaries proven useful:
All the best
We have to offer to ourselves and to the world.
A thought for the New Year. Blessings to all. Dennis McCarthy
These words are from The Rev. Dennis McCarty – he posted them in a UU
Ministers Facebook space this week.
He has captured in this brief reflection two-thirds of what I have wanted to share
with you this morning. Letting Go and Holding On.
You know, we go through these sort of cleansing and regrouping rituals every
January.
Every year for the past many years, I’ve heard lots of people say – good ridance to
this year – next year can’t possibly be any worse.
I do actually think that perhaps 2021 proved to be worse than 2020 in a lot of
ways, but not in all ways.
There are also somewhat fewer people, I think, who say – you know, this has
been a pretty terrific year and I just hope next year can come close to being as
great. Not too many folks are saying that about 2021, but some really are, and
they are quite sincere.
Whether the departing year has been a great one or a lousy one depends, of
course, on our own interpretations of our experiences during the past 12 months.
Even more important than our experiences may be our attitude. Even in the
dark, someone will be optimistic; someone will have hope and maybe even a
light. It will no longer be Betty White, but she certainly demonstrated the power
of a holding on to a positive attitude in her life. Alternatively, even in the
moments of brilliant light, someone will complain about the coming darkness.
I turn to Robert Weston’s final words about a year that begins today – what I
make of it depends on me. Whether this new year turns out to be full of promise
or weighed down by folly – well, it depends on what each of us will make of it.
And that brings me back around to our annual rituals of letting go, holding on,
and bringing in.
In setting our intentions and our attitudes for this new year, it helps to take
inventory of what we’ve saved up and to get rid of what no longer serves us.
Just let it go …. Or, if necessary, force it out.
You may think I speak only metaphorically, but I think a literal physical inventory
can be a good thing too. Heaven knows, I’m a saver from a family of savers.
Getting rid of things is not easy. Piling up more and more stuff either because I
thought I needed it at some point in time, or because someone gave me
something – – well, pretty soon there’s just too much. Just too much.
Advice? Get rid of it!
Emotional and spiritual stuff can pile up after a while too.
We need a healthy amount of emotional and spiritual stuff – resources and tools
that feed us and shelter us. The tricky part is figuring out what it is that truly
does that. Then being willing and able to let go of the rest.
You know, we are always in the proces of changing. I once heard someone say
that each day we are creating the next best version of ourselves. And I guess we
are. The next best version of myself or yourself may depend on being able to let
go of emotions, behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs that once helped us but now just
weigh us down. Like the well-worn sweater that we loved for many years but
haven’t worn for the last three, some of our previous best versions of our selves
need to be updated in order to actually become the next best version of
ourselves.
If we were all together in one place, we’d be writing down our thoughts on little
slips of paper and wadding up the papers into little balls.
We’d name the things we want to release or let go.
Then we would ceremonially and deliberately toss them into the fire and watch
them burn up.
Alas, we are not all together in one place and the physical ritual of letting go
cannot be done together like that. So, I invite you to do this individually while I
offer a few moments of quiet. You can talk out loud since we can’t hear you
anyway. Or you can remain silent and keep your inner wisdom within.
I will use a small bit of paper and fire to symbolize the releasing and cleansing for
all of us. I invite you and I encourage you to do your own ritual – today or
tomorrow or whenever you make the time and space in your life to do it.
Part of taking inventory is about clearing away the detritis.
Part of taking inventory is also deciding to hold on to whatever serves us or gives
us joy. Afterall, we work hard at becoming our best selves and quite frequently
we do a pretty good job of it. We’ve found things that work for us and help us
with our practices – whatever they are. Kindness. Generosity. Kinship. Prayer.
Meditation. Exercise. Contemplation. Connection with all our relations, our
ancestors and our world.
We do well to stop and see what we have and be grateful.
We want to hold on to the sweaters that bring us joy each time we take them off
the shelf.
We want to hold on to our practice of keeping quiet when silence is the better
part of wisdom.
We want to hold on to our commitment to speak out when speaking out is the
better part of justice.
We want to hold on to the parts of our lives that sustain us in health and wellbeing.
We want to hold on to the people and places and behaviors we love and love us
back.
Think about what all that might be for you. We’ll be quiet for a minute so you can
concentrate on your own inventory. Then, I’m going to drop stones in a bowl of
water to symbolize what we are holding on to. These are the parts of our lives
that continue to give us strength, courage, wisdom, and compassion.
Listen again to Dennis McCarthy’s reflection, “Taking Stock”.
To every one of us, there come those times
We need to clean the disheveled closets
Otherwise known as our lives.
Pull out the old anxieties, antagonisms, disappointments,
And if we don’t completely throw them in the trash,
At least re-examine them. Re-stock, re-store,
So they are no longer in the way
Of all those items we can actually put to use.
Those most beloved to us–
Loved ones,
Gifts we find most joy in sharing,
Little bits of wisdom
We must surely have acquired along the way–
Store those in front.
There’s only so much shelf space.
Let us not waste it
With the worn-out refuse of our lives.
Pull out those necessaries proven useful:
All the best
We have to offer to ourselves and to the world.
Making room for what matters now. Bringing in whatever is yet to come that will
be wonderful and heartwarming and challenging and infuriating – all of that
awaits us.
We certainly want to practice good evaluation skills here too.
Not every new sweater is right for us. Not every new idea or experience is right
for us. Not every opportunity will serve us or our world.
Eyes wide open.
Mind wide open.
Heart wide open.
Yes to Life and Love.
I don’t want to imply that if we pay attention and remain open everything will be
fine. Everything won’t be fine. We already know that. We also know that some
things will be fine – very fine.
What we don’t yet know is what we will make of this new year with both its
beauty and its ugliness.
What will we embrace?
What will we make room for in our hearts and minds?
What resources do we carry with us that will help us decide what to bring in and
what to reject?
How will we become the next best version of ourselves and how will we bring that
best self to a hurting world?
I suggest that perhaps our three greatest resources in making this new year one
of beauty and strength are these:
1. Our past experience of separating the wheat from the chaff and knowing
what brings health and what brings dis-ease
2. Our faith and how our faith teaches us to live and what to value
3. Perhaps most important resource is each other – for for the sure and
abiding knowledge that we are not alone and that the company we keep is
good helpful loving company will serve us in our strength and in our
weakness.
My Dear Spiritual Companions, may you accompany each other through all that
this new year brings us. We can’t control what comes with each passing day. We
can’t, by wishing, make 2022 be the year when democracy and equality and
climate justice prevail. We will be faced with great beauty, for sure. And we will,
for sure, be called upon to do everything we possibly can to preserve democracy
and assure equality for all to work like heck to love our world not destroy it. We
can do this hard thing. We can it better together.
Do you remember from Lord of the Rings when Frodo was just really and truly
wanted to abandon his mission to destroy the ring of power?
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is
not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that
is given us.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
This is the time that is given to us. May we embrace the beauty and rise to the
challenges that come to us. Together.
Blessed Be. I Love You. Amen.