Sermons

RESPONSIVE READING ~ by Peter T. Richardson

Our Covenant

Love is the power that holds us together.

Accountable to one another, we affirm these values:

Interdependence.

Pluralism.

Justice.

Equity.

Transformation

Generosity.

AFFIRMATION

Inspired by the many scriptures and traditions of our world, their history, stories, wisdom; we are grateful for our planetary inheritance.

In ordinary, difficult or joyous times, may we be grounded and sustained.

 

TWO SHORT READINGS ~

From ~James Baldwin

The longer I live, the more deeply I learn that love — whether we call it friendship or family or romance — is the work of mirroring and magnifying each other’s light.
(Book: Nothing Personal https://amzn.to/3K2JmfQ)

 

From ~ Mary Oliver
And I have become the child of the clouds, and of hope.
I have become the friend of the enemy, whoever that is.
I have become older and, cherishing what I have learned,
I have become younger.

And what do I risk to tell you this, which is all I know?
Love yourself. Then forget it. Then, love the world.
from “To Begin With, the Sweet Grass” by  Mary Oliver.
Text as published in Evidence: Poems (Beacon Press, 2010).

 

SERMON

A story, a story.  (Let it come, Let it come.)

Seven years ago we put up a sign outside the office at 21 Main Street.

On the sign were three words.

Love Beyond Belief.

Many of you don’t remember that sign or perhaps never saw it.

But, in those years, many visitors to Castine did see it.

That was our intent.

One day two men were strolling together along the sidewalk and they happened to see me and one of them asked if this sign was mine.

Yes, well, ours – the UU Congregation.

What does Love Beyond Belief mean?

Well, what does it mean to you?

The two looked at each other.

Huh. It sounds sort of Buddhist to me.

In what way?

Well, as if maybe love is more like a practice than a religious doctrine or belief.

I nodded and smiled and looked at the other man.

And you, what do you say?

His answer was equally interesting.

Ok, well, to me it maybe means that love is beyond any particular belief or religion, that love reaches beyond any and all of our individual beliefs.

Yes, yes, you’re both right.

They looked at me – –

What do you say it means?

Oh, just what you said, and more.

We three smiled, and they went on their way, and I went on my way, content in the moment.

Love, shared with strangers – no longer strangers.

Love is the core of faith. It reaches beyond beliefs.

Love is the center of our Unitarian Universalist values, and it holds and informs all the others.  In our new statement, we say Love is the power that holds us together.  Love holds us together.

Love.  It’s hard to define, but we know it when we feel it and we know it when we give it away.

There is tender love.

There is hard love.

There is fierce love.

There is the One Love that holds us – each of us, all of us – that will never ever let us go …. No matter what.

May I simply talk with you about love this morning?

Today my message is not from either sacred scripture or the New York Times.  It is just from my heart.

Not another sermon about Love and Justice, not another admonition to love your neighbor and love your enemies – you’ve heard those many times and this congregation does well with those faith commandments.

Tender love, hard love, fierce love.

When I say that love is tender, you know what I mean; we care for each other in happiness and in suffering.

When love is hard, well, we just stick with it and with each other because the decision to stay even when the staying is hard is what we mean when we covenant with each other in love.

Fierce love is the love we give to the world.

It is doing justice, practicing loving kindness and walking humbly on the right road.

It is remaining steadfast in our promise to love our neighbors – all of them.

It is working through the challenges of what to do for our members and friends, for our historic and fragile buildings, and for the world when we have 8 million dollars in our endowment and take seriously our responsibility for that gift.

Back in May 2016, when I was your candidate for settled ministry, I said that my ministry is about two things: engagement and relevance. Still, those are essential aspects of my ministry.  And, in the last seven years with you I have learned a thing or two.  Perhaps most important of all is that when everything that needs to be said has been said … or not … and when everything that needs to be done has been done … or not …. what remains is love.

Now, you might say, “Of course, everyone knows that.” And you would be right – mostly.  Yet, in my life I have also learned that there can be a great and tremendous difference between knowing about something and actually knowing that something intimately and authentically.  There is a deep difference between what we talk about and understand in our heads and what we truly come to know in heart and soul. I have come to know love more deeply and completely in my heart and soul here with you.

If, or perhaps when, everything else falls away, love remains.

What you have taught me is that ministry and life are about showing up and about love.

When we have given all we have.

When we have received all we can hold.

When there is no more laughter and all the tears are shed,

there is love- – only love and especially love.

In those moments when I am either filled to the brim, or empty to the bottom, there is love, only love.

Colleen & I want to share a song with you.  You know this song.  You’ve sung it before and you can sing it again now.
SONG – There Is Only Love by Michael Gott

Verse: In this moment, in this place,
I remember who I am.
Letting fear and worry fall away from me.
I open my eyes and see.
Chorus: There is only love.
There is only love.
Love that heals,
Love that sets us free.
There is only love.

This is the One Love that holds us – each of us, all of us – that will never ever let us go …. No matter what.

Sometimes it is hard to feel this love, and yet like the sun behind the clouds and the stars during daylight, though we cannot see or feel them, They are always there.

Other times we are so filled with this Universal Love that we can hardly contain the joy we feel and the loving kindness we want to share.

Mostly, though, this Love is a quiet ever-present strength and comfort.

My Dearest Spiritual Companions, may this Love, the Love that holds us – individually and together – be with you this day and every day…. Always and forever.

Now ……before I leave this pulpit and bestow on it my kindest and most compassionate intentions for the next one you choose as your minister, will you indulge me with a bit of additional nostalgia?

When I preached my sermon on May 1, 2016, my title was:

Journey to Beyond, or, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go”

I used a poem by Mark Strand
Untitled (A journey that continues) by Mark Strand

A journey continues until it stops
A journey that stops is no longer a journey
A journey loses things on its way
A journey passes through things, things pass through it
When a journey is over, it loses itself to a place
When a journey remembers, it begins a journal
Which is a new journey about an old journey
A journey over time is different from a journey into time
An actual journey is into the future
A reflective journey is into the past

***

A journey always begins in a place called Here
Pack your bags and imagine your journey
Unpack your bags and imagine your journey is done

***

If you’re afraid of a journey, don’t buy shoes
~ Mark Strand ~ (Chicken, Shadow, Moon & More)

I told you then that I brought my walking shoes, and I asked you to invite me to journey with you.  And you did.  And we have gone many wonderful places and some unexpected places together.

Now, my shoes point in a different direction – toward a journey whose destination has yet to be discovered.  Just as I asked you then to invite me to go with you, now I ask you to release me from this covenant that has held us together for seven years; to bless me to go where my heart and spirit now lead even as I bless you to go where your hearts and spirits lead.

Your journey continues.  There are new places to explore and investigate.  You will have companions you have known for years, and you will welcome new companions.

You know, Dr. Seuss had it right.
Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.

You’re on your own.
And you know what you know.
And YOU are the ones
who’ll decide where to go.

You’ll be on your way up!
You’ll be seeing great sights!
You’ll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.
OH!  THE PLACES YOU’LL GO!
               (from Dr. Seuss)

My beloved spiritual companions, it has been the absolute honor and privilege of my life to serve you and this congregation for these seven years. I have done the best I could. We have given and received all that we have had to share.  It is good. It is finished.  Let us, you all and I,  be on our own way with the sure knowledge and confidence that wherever we go and however we get there, there is a love holding us and all that we love.  May we rest in that love.

Blessed Be.   I Love You.    Amen.