Sermons

I’ll say it again, “Good morning!” Bon Matin! Guten morgen!
What a positive and uplifting way to open one’s eyes and wake to the day, to the moment, to the reality happening around themselves! What a beautiful thing to be able to say this directly to you all, here today, in the sanctuary particularly after so long!

A morning awakening can be a beautiful thing. Ironically I come from a household of those who are very difficult to wake– As in once sleeping, it takes an act of the divine to rouse them…
Still, there are many different understandings of waking,
For one,
• There is the literally waking from sleep of rest
• There is a phrase used now about being “woke”. Here “woke” means being “alert to injustice in society, especially racism.”
• But today, I am thinking more specifically of spiritual awakening.
To me spiritual awakening is one of the most fascinating things to investigate and discuss. And I suppose it was such an awakening that led me here on this very path to ministry. I never really thought of it this way until I looked into this phenomenon of such spiritual awakening. As mentioned in a previous service I had been hospitalized related to Multiple Sclerosis complications. And I recall at one moment, while in the hospital, being aware, mind filled with beautiful imagery that I have been trying to capture since then, of what care a divine figure would need to tend to themselves in order to sustain the cosmos.

//It’s not surprising that my first instinct after having such thoughts was that I had lost my mind. Apparently, this is not abnormal to question one’s own sanity in the process of spiritual awakening. It is as if everything we know to be true is in question, and reality itself is in limbo, displayed before us to be pondered openly. Additionally, attempting to describe this experience to another, leaves one often without the capacity to capture the experience, or to remain sounding logical in our descriptions. It is like chasing the remembering of a dream, in which the images seem so visceral in one moment but are lost in attempting to hold on to and reiterate the experience.

I have found that the best way for me to capture this experience for others has been through forms of art, in which there is more room for interpretation and a capturing of experience with the creative, which does not demand logical parameters of our already understanding.

I wrote a piece trying to capture this experience years later, and again like a dream I am sure I missed much in remembering.
I share here, a segment not of the moment of epiphany but of reflection afterward, I write,
“I went to then meditate and write on this [experience]. I felt a humbled and yet honored sense of connection as I had been gifted a vision that I might best be able to understand the powers that be, and how to grasp the importance and lesson of caring just as delicately for the life that is me. My heart swells with disbelief and amazement for the images bestowed upon me, which are beyond my normal scope of thinking. I am in awe of how such thoughts came to me, and of considering: why? I continue to wonder of this experience and recognize new meanings for my own being, and for others, for the earth, nature, all of which are in need of care, as even a mother deity would need, in order to keep the everything well cared for. I think of the advice on airplanes to put on one’s own oxygen mask first, and on the idea that “cleanliness is next to godliness”, — I appreciate that in letting myself accept the open arms in a hospital setting, and baring myself to the unknown, I Iet in a light that I had been warding off while not taking the same care with myself, as I had others, and thereby not leaving space for the divine to enter.”
(“Awakening showers”, Williams, V., https://wordpress.com/post/sheofletters.wordpress.com/1687)

There are 7 stages of a spiritual awakening. And as each stage is so diverse in the manifestation of the experience which I think makes it then so difficult to identify oneself on this trajectory.
I know I did not see myself as experiencing anything awakening until I was in what can be seen as multiple steps into the process. It was in the midst of a mundane moment in which I experienced an epiphany that it suddenly dawned on me, that everything I was going through was an awakening of sorts.

See, in the experience of a spiritual awakening one is not necessarily aware this is occurring. The actual spiritual awakening may be confusing, and one may feel lost or down.
Then comes a dark patch, a so called ‘dark night of the soul’.. this may be the hardest point, but it’s where the soul and ego are stripped down to regenerate anew. It’s the rock bottom point where up is the only place else to go.

There are 5 more stages after this rock bottom, but my interest is on focusing on this point in the spiritual awakening– the pivot point between hitting bottom and looking up.

//I am focusing here, because as we return to the sanctuary on this very day I feel as if this is where we are as a church community.
So much has occurred to us collectively and individually since the 2020 dawn of the pandemic that turned everything on its head. The sanctuary was shuttered to church services, and what came next was the evolution of a historic church in uncertain circumstances….

But, why am I focused on spiritual awakening? Why here, and now? As we open here today, I see this as a stage of awakening for the collective Unitarian universalist Congregation of Castine. I believe this, like many other faith communities are in transition, in evolution of their gathering and in their contemplation of such togetherness, with one another, and with the divine. Having lost our spaces of worship in the events of the pandemic, we have learned to be together in different contexts, with new age means. We have come to see what being together in essence is, and what it means to us.

As a seminarian coming into the world of ministry as pandemic limited my interaction with congregants, I was frustrated by my limited ability to connect with individuals in light of precautions, particularly as an introverted person. Being limited to virtual interactions was in essence a paradigm shift for all of us. As a church, how can we be in connection with one another and divine, via a virtual platform?

Yes, we lost so much of what we knew to be “church” in this process, for the sake of community safety. This was in no way easy. We thought this process would be short lived. But, alas we know this has been years in process.

Right now, with the careful decision-making process of the church and its leaders, it has been decided to reopen, to reconvene as has not been done since I was last to lead service in September of 2021. This process of reopening and coming to terms with what this means in this uncertain reality, has made us consider things in a way we never would have before pandemic, before closure. We are aware of things—regarding our physical and spiritual needs and concerns as we never had been before.

In relation to this topic, spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle, writes in reflection of spiritual experience as follows,
“That is the real spiritual awakening, when something emerges from within you that is deeper than who you thought you were. So, the person is still there, but one could almost say that something more powerful shines through the person.”

Likewise, as we come back together, in this new, old setting, our awareness has shifted. Our priorities have shifted. Our awareness of our role in connection to each other, the world, and the cosmos has shifted. This has been and is an on going spiritual awakening for members of this church, and other spiritual seekers all over the world.

Regardless of where you were before the pandemic on your spiritual path, time and circumstance has most definitely impacted your position here. For many a significant life event or change can spark this, yet it is not often the world gets a simultaneous wake up call. Knowing that you are part of this experience can be freeing, can be in itself enlightening. Yes, as was discussed earlier, aspects of the experience are not easy, hard, and hard to recognize simultaneously. Be patient with yourself, as is said in this context, “you are spiritual beings having a human experience.” And these moments we are living into are some of the most unique and difficult in recorded history. In this light, gift yourself and others grace, as we uncover and grow into these evolutions of ourselves. May you be comforted that spirit is present always, through this spiritual growth and associated growing pains.

Dear ones, as we come to close, let us not worry over whether the sanctuary doors shall remain open, for coming Sundays, but be reminded that regardless of what shape the church takes, or how it meets, we are never void of the spirit that is always with and connecting us; This we have learned, and come to feel authentically in the emergence of new spiritual and community connections. We are at present aware, awakening, and strengthened through the challenges faced by each of our souls.

For all you have come through, and for your journey yet ahead, I pray peace, grace, and enlightenment meet your next steps forward.
May it be so,
Amen.