Sunday, August 17, 2008

You're a What? - Sermon Prologue

Many thanks to Jess Cullinan for graciously allowing me to use her post as a part of the sermon.

My old "elevator speech":

Unitarian Universalists believe everyone has the right to their own spiritual path
AND
the responsibility to help one another find those paths and live them with authenticity and integrity.


My new answers to the questions:

We’re a what?

We are Unitarian Universalists,
and we are saving lives, deepening our spirits,
healing the world,
and building the beloved community
we all hope, dream, and long for.

What do we believe?


We believe in people, ALL people.
We believe in freedom AND responsibility.
We believe in faith AND reason.l
We believe in the rights and the wisdom the individual (the still small voce within)
and in the larger whole to which we each belong (beyond our knowing.)

And we believe that learning to be comfortable
in the space between the apparent opposites
is the secret to peace on earth,
and good will towards all.


So… You’re a what?


We’re Unitarian Universalists.

What’s that?


It’s a religion I’m proud to be a part of.
It’s a faith that brings people together and inspires us to be better.
It’s a belief in the family of all living things, and a hope for a world made healthy and whole.
It’s my religious home, and I’d be happy to tell you why, what it means to me—if you’d like to know.

Friday, August 15, 2008

The Answers My Friends - Prologue

Between the subject of the last post, being on vacation for a long week, and the joy of re-entry, I haven't had a chance to post a prologue from the last service, this year's question box sermon.

Here are the questions I received along with some very, very short answers.
(In no particular order)

Q: Describe the idea UU community. To what extent does this community meet or fall short of this ideal?
A: A community that cares for one another, cares for the wider community through social justice work, and does the hard work of spiritual deepening. On top of that, they also have to be sharing the good news of our liberal faith--inviting people to join us along with welcoming those who find us. I think our community is better than average and considerably short of where it could be.

Q: Is it OK to torture in time of emergency and then return one's "core values" after the emergency has passed?
A: No.

Q: When dealing with grief on the death of a loved one, is there a way to find comfort as a Unitarian?
A: Yes. While other faiths offer comfort in the form of promises of an after-life, UUism offers comfort in two different ways.
1. Reminding us that all of us face such grief. None of us are alone.
2. Focusing on the life here and now. Celebrating the life and the memories of the ones we've loved.
(When I was dealing with grief, I found Bill Murry's book "A Faith for All Seasons" to be very helpful with these questions.)

Q: What regions of the country are you considering for a new position?
A: We've ruled out Australia.

Q: Jefferson & his fellow deists believed that God created rules of both physical and human nature, and that any human being by observing these rules, can see God's will revealed without the intermediation of churches, bibles, or ministers. Your views please?
A: Deists did not believe in a personified god. Transcendentalists believed one could find "truth" through direct experience.
I'm partial to transcendentalists. For more on the topic, check out our upcoming sermon series. ("Transcendentalism: Part or Parcel of God" on January 18th)

Q: Why aren't people more open to new experiences?
A: We aren't trained to notice the constant change that is life, so obvious changes make us nervous.

Q: What is the most entertaining thing you have done from the pulpit and how did it fit into the service (why did you do it?)
A: My juggling service preached at the UUSG while I was a ministerial intern. The service as called "The Tao of Juggling" and it was all about the concept of balance in life. Juggling was a great physical demonstration of the concept. It was a lot of fun.

Q: Why do gay, lesbians, and transgender groups seem to have a greater influence in UU churches then most other groups or subgroups? Could the UU church benefit from greater balance?
A: I don't accept the premise of the question and I'm afraid there's another less-pleasant question lurking beneath it.
(Balance is always good, though.)

Q: How does a community that prides itself on its embrace of diversity negotiate the conflicts that are bound to arise with grace and honesty?
A: With good intentions; open, honest communication, and ready forgiveness.

Q: What of the the role of ritual and ceremony in a spiritual life?
A: A spiritual life requires a certain amount of spiritual practice. Spiritual practice is an ongoing, repetitive thing. Rituals and ceremonies help us develop the necessary practices and encourage us to go to the deeper places within us.

Q: What do you plan on doing for the rest of your time here at First Church?
A: Doing what I've been doing as the Assistant Minister so far. Only instead of working on the hire-to-call process, now I'm working on the search process. I'm also trying to leave well and help with the transition to the new supporting minister as best I can.

Q: How do you calculate the circumference of a circle?
A: 2 pi r where r is the radius of the circle. (The answer was included on the card. I knew the answer without the help, but thank you.)

Q: How do we grow our UU congregations so we're counted as a "major" religion- or should we be striving for his anyway.
A: YES! We should move from the margins back to the forefront of religious leadership in this country. We do that two ways.
1. Stop being shy. Invite people to join us. Share our message. EVANGELIZE (it is only a dirty word if you do it wrong)
(We'll talk more about that at this weekend's service.)
2. Get out there and work to make our beliefs a reality.

Q: If Jesus was alive would he be on the ticket with Obama as Vice President? Would he accept the nominations?
A: No. No.

Q: Why doesn't everybody try to pitch in to stop global warming?
A: Denial is a very strong human trait. Personal sacrifice is a very difficult human choice.

Q: Will everything ever all be set right?
A: Depends on your definition. I have hope that things will be better. That's enough for me.

Q: Wonder what you or the UU opinion of sin against the self is or why you didn't mention it? (I find wicked self-criticism a real "dimmer" of my inner spirit. What do you think?)
A: I don't know if I'd call it a sin... and I think everyone suffers from those voices. I know I do. I think they are helpful only in so far as they inspire us to be better and horrible when they make us question or deny our own worth.

Q: How do you maintain hope and optimism in a world with so much tragedy and despair?
A: I try to make sure I get an equal dose of the blessings, joys, celebrations that life has to offer. I also look for instances of creative win-win scenarios. And if all of that isn't enough, I look at the kids in our UU congregations and realize their smarter and more spiritually grounded than I was when I was their age.

That's all for this year.