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.

Generosity.

Equity.

Transformation.  We adapt to an always changing world, fundamental in our Unitarian and Universalist heritage, never complete and never perfect.

We covenant to ever open ourselves for growing spiritually and ethically.

 

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.

 

 READING ~ My Heart is Moved by All I Cannot Save by Adrienne Rich

My heart is moved by all I cannot save:
so much has been destroyed

I have to cast my lot with those
who age after age, perversely,

with no extraordinary power,
reconstitute the world.

Original source: From “Natural Resources” in Dream of a Common Language (1978)

SERMON

James Luther Adams, 20th century Unitarian Universalist theologian said, “revelation is not sealed.” We learn new things every day, we and our beliefs are constantly changing and evolving, we are always in a state of becoming, and becoming, and becoming yet again.

Why do I begin with this teaching – one of the five smooth stones of faith from James Luther Adams?

It’s because I want us to understand how Unitarian Universalism has always been different from much of ancient and contemporary Christianity when it comes to our understanding of revelation … and transformation.   In the early days of both Unitarianism and Universalism, we would have identified as a Christian faith.  Others identified both traditions as Christian heresies…. Mostly based on our understandings of Jesus and salvation ….. sermons for another day.  Also very different from much of Christianity is our understanding of revelation – the last book in the Christian scriptures, but the process and content of revelation as received by mere mortals like all of us.  Revelation by itself simply means the disclosure or apprehension of something previously hidden or unknown.  Theologically, it refers to wisdom given or sent from the Divine to a person or to all persons.  OK, so how are we different?

Much of Christianity, and this is part of what scares me about fundamentalist Christianity, regards revelation as completely sealed, it is closed.  God spoke.  Someone heard.  It got handed down and eventually written down and forever after there is nothing new to be learned or shared from communion with the Divine.  Yikes!  Nothing?  So, did God simply and permanently stop communicating with God’s people by the end of the first century?  Well, lots of people think so and for this reason you may hear it said, “God spoke it, I believe it, nothing more to consider.”  But I say to you, Balderdash.

Our UU ancestors said the same.  Our Christian UU ancestors declared, against prevailing thought of their time, that revelation is not sealed, it is not finished, it is on-going.  God, the Divine Presence, is always in the process of revealing wisdom, awe and wonder.  Evolution demands that we understand the changing nature of life.  Spirituality invites us to locate ourselves in a worldview that lives and gives life meaning.  Now that Unitarian Universalism has widened the circle of faith and care to embrace spiritualities, practices, religious traditions, worldviews and philosophies well beyond Christianity, we may take for granted the notion that revelation is not sealed.  But friends, make no mistake, we are surrounded by folks who disagree and who work hard to make the world into a fixed and inflexible expression of wisdom that is now two to eight thousand years old, with no accommodation for the evolution of bodies, thoughts or experiences.

And yes, that scares me …. And if it doesn’t scare you, maybe it should!

Our notion of ongoing revelation is where “We learn new things every day, we and our beliefs are constantly changing and evolving, we are always in a state of becoming, and becoming, and becoming yet again.”  There is both freedom and responsibility in this understanding.

Our sense of TRANSFORMATION – one of our seven proposed values – is based on this living and changing revelation and Divine wisdom for those who experience the Divine in this way…. Whether we call it revelation, discovery, remembering or reframing.  Revelation, Wisdom, Knowledge, Knowing - - all are impermanent, all are moving and changing.

It is for us to discern answers to the three questions: how, what, and why that means for each of us in our own lives, and for us collectively as people of progressive faith in a world that could benefit from a bit of transformation.

Now, let me ask the question I offered as a way to begin our meditation for this morning.

What is the difference between a caterpillar becoming a butterfly and a square piece of paper becoming a peace crane?  Both are transformations, but, there are striking differences.

Watch these two short videos of transformation.

Painted Lady Caterpillar to Butterfly Time lapse  https://youtu.be/hYMGFsHca8A

Making peace crane Time lapse  https://youtu.be/xCM6TRMrDVA

Let’s start with the Painted Lady butterfly.

She is beautiful isn’t she?

Metamorphosis – caterpillar to butterfly.

This transformation is a wonder of nature.

We can watch it happen.

We can be amazed and delighted.

It will happen whether or not any of us sees it happening.

It will happen in its own time and its own way.

Nature – one might even say, “God’s holy creation” – engages in ongoing transformation that does not require our attention or our agreement.

The caterpillar transforms into the butterfly without any intervention from any of us.

Not so with the transformation of the paper to a peace crane.

The colored square of paper does not transform into a crane without the intervention, intention, and attention of the paper folder.

When I talk about the faith-based value of Transformation, I’m talking about the transformation that only happens when we do something; when we take action; it takes our intervention, intention and attention.  Transformation of our broken world into the world we wish for all children and their children to the seventh generation requires our commitment to the possibility that our efforts will be beneficial.

We also know that the sort of Transformation I’m advocating is never finished. It is never perfect. Whether we’re attempting to transform the world, or the much harder job of transforming ourselves, our work  is never complete and it’s not perfect.  But it is worthy of our commitment.

Each of our seven values comes with a statement of accountability and covenant.  Here it is again.

Transformation.  We adapt to an always changing world, fundamental in our Unitarian and Universalist heritage, never complete and never perfect.

We covenant to ever open ourselves for growing spiritually and ethically.

We open ourselves for growing – for changing – for finding new wisdom and revised understanding - - spiritually and ethically.  Both our spirit and our ethics need to grow and to remain open to new understanding in order for us to meet the challenges of this life and this world.  Yesterday is gone.  Yesterday’s truth may also be gone.  We promise to remain open to new truth, new understanding, new reality, new experience.

My dear spiritual companions, you’ve heard me say many times that the work our faith calls to is not easy and none of is fit enough to do it alone. We are stronger and better when we are together. When it comes to the task of transformation – intentional transformation like folding the square paper into a peace crane or molding this world into a place where all beings may live and thrive – we need each other.  We need all the companions we can find.

Hear now words of poet Adrienne Rich.  Let these words, again, flow over you and through you.

My heart is moved by all I cannot save:
so much has been destroyed

I have to cast my lot with those
who age after age, perversely,

with no extraordinary power,
reconstitute the world.

The first phrase simply reduces me to the core of my perpetual sadness for this world and the beings of this world that I love so dearly.

My heart is moved by all I cannot save

There is so much that I cannot save, that you cannot save.

So much has been destroyed.  Yes.

So much has been lost, already and still.

So much has yet to be achieved.

 

Although she wrote in the late 1970s and we gather in the 2020s, the feelings of loss, of broken heartedness are not different.

These are emotions we feel so deeply, especially in moments of tragedy, crisis, and devastation.   This morning, here in Northern New England, we are drawn to the destruction of the flooding in Vermont.  How can we not be?  For those who live elsewhere, you know how your heart is moved for those nearby who suffer.

Adrienne Rich does not leave us here, in this place of broken-heartedness and inability to save or rescue what we love.

There is hope.  There is determination.  There is resolve, high resolve.

And …..  there is comfort.

She says ……

I have to cast my lot with those
who age after age, perversely,

 with no extraordinary power,
reconstitute the world.

She invites us to cast our lot with her.  Where?  We cast our lot with those who see that we will not accomplish all that lies before us, and yet, we do the work anyway.  Is it perverse to know that we cannot not do the things we might be able to do; to enter into transformation of that which is unhelpful into that which promises to be more helpful?  Perhaps.  Yet, it is the visionaries who see what might be and inspire others to look away from all that is destroyed and to see what might yet be – if we act, if we do something, if we do not expect nature to transform our brokenness into wholeness and beauty as if we were caterpillars  who can do nothing other than waiting for the cocoon of transformation to form around them.

What may seem perverse in a mild sense of disbelief is the exact stuff and strength of faith.

If faith is things hoped for yet unrealized, then yes, there are those who age after age have seen a future that is transformed in ways that we too wish to accomplish, if not for ourselves, then for the generations after us.

Who, you may ask, are these visionaries whose hope and far-sightedness may transform our world and in so doing transform ourselves?

They are regular people.  No Savior.  No Messiah.  No Superman.  No Black Panther.  They have no extraordinary power.  They have the power all of us have, if only we could figure out to claim it in love.

We are the ones with whom the poet seeks to cast her lot.

You and I have no extraordinary power and yet, together we have very extraordinary power. Together, we can, if we will, reconstitute the world.

Wisdom is available to us. Revelation is not sealed.  The Divine and Original creative energy has not ceased to offer us guidance.  We remain open to growing spiritually and ethically.

My Dear Spiritual Companions, may we continue the never complete and never perfect transformation of ourselves, each other and our world – sometimes against all odds and sometimes with the flow of the universal love that gives us life, determination, and hope.

Howard Thurman has prayed the prayer of our hearts.

In the quietness of this place, surrounded by the all-pervading Presence of God, my heart whispers:

Keep fresh before me the moments of my High Resolve, that in fair weather or in foul, in good times or in tempests, I may not forget that to which my life is committed. Keep fresh before me the moments of my High Resolve.

Let me finish this morning with words from UU Minister Wayne Arnason reminds us with his words that transforming ourselves and the world is not easy and it is important that we commit ourselves to the effort.

Take courage friends,

The way is often hard, the path is never clear, and the stakes are very high.

Take courage.

For deep down, there is another truth: you are not alone.

These words have guided and comforted me through the years.

Sometimes it seems that our high resolve is impossible to achieve.

Sometimes it seems that more people than not will thwart our every effort to be better and to make our world better for all. The way is hard, and the path is not clear.  We keep going, guided by our high resolve, because we cannot not in good faith keep going. There is always more to do.

And there is this truth: We are not alone.

Blessed Be.   I Love You.   Amen.