Sermon by Rev. Alan Taylor
Preached at Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation
February 29, 2004
Reading 1:
From Sophia Lyon Fahs, a Unitarian educator,
editor, author, and minister, with a special interest in and innovative approach
to the religious education of children.
It matters what we believe.
Some beliefs are like walled gardens. They encourage
exclusiveness and the feeling of being especially privileged.
Other beliefs are expansive and lead the way into wider and deeper sympathy.
Some beliefs are like shadows, clouding children’s days
with fears of unknown calamities.
Other beliefs are like sunshine, blessing children with the warmth of happiness.
Some beliefs are divisive, separating the saved from the
unsaved, friends from enemies.
Other beliefs are bonds in the world community, where sincere differences
beautify the pattern.
Some beliefs are like blunders, shutting off the power to
choose one’s own direction.
Other beliefs are like gateways, opening wide vistas for exploration.
Some beliefs weaken a person’s selfhood; they blight the
growth of resourcefulness.
Other beliefs nurture self-confidence and enrich the feeling of personal worth.
Some beliefs are rigid, like the body of death, impotent in
a changing world.
Other beliefs are pliable, like the young sapling, ever growing with the upward
thrust of life.
Reading 2:
"A Personal Credo", by Joyce DeWitt
I believe in a spirit energy
that is in all living things. It flows and flies like a wind that touches us
all. We can feel it pulling us, warming us, flowing through us as we breathe
deep, connecting us to all that is creation- each other, stars, water, trees,
rocks, bees, sunshine. It is our goodness, our muse, our peace.
Somehow a spirit happened by. We are its child. Creation
is our place of space and the window to that Spirit. All beings understand this
spirit in their own way through their senses, whether they use touch, scent,
rhythm, presence, balance, sight, openness, or by any other means. I believe
there are many languages of creation itself- a singing in the stars, a language
of the clouds, poetry of waves, pure beauty in each flower.
As the Earth is our home, we must love and trust it as if
today is our last day here. The Earth gives us life. It nurtures and teaches
us. It challenges and comforts us. We are ourselves, and we listen how we can.
I believe all beings are inherently good, though
continuously striving to fulfill their conceptions of their physical and
emotional needs. I believe we are highly impacted by our personal experiences
and circumstances. We must meet each other where we are and grow together. As
a family we have a responsibility to respect each other with honesty, humility,
generosity, and the amazing ability to give each other a sense of self worth.
Together we can gain the strength of the Spirit to stand up tall, to love, and
to harmonize with creation, to feel the Spirit that connects us into a power
that is greater than imaginable.
I believe that the Spirit is our life source, that the
Earth is our church, that living things are bound together, and when our bodies
fall back to the Earth as beautiful dust, our spirits will soar out to join the
larger dance.
© Copyright 2004
Joyce DeWitt, All Rights Reserved.
Sermon:
Well it’s happened again. I
told someone I was a Unitarian Universalist minister, and this person said, “Oh!
That’s the religion where you can believe anything you want, isn’t it? I think
your religion is really cool.” And then he said, “If I were anything I’d be a
Unitarian because you can live however you want, and you don’t even have to go
to church.”
I wanted to ask, “You think my religion is cool because it
makes no demands on you?” Well actually, you’ve got it wrong. I have bad news
for you. Being a Unitarian Universalist is not easy. It puts the responsibility
on you to discern what it is that you most cherish, to discern your most deep
convictions, to develop moral reason from your own conscience rather than
relying on what other people have said and done. It requires a lot of
discipline. It requires a faith in human beings to discern for themselves and it
requires people to respect each other’s processes, realizing we need not think
alike to love alike. We do not need to agree on theological points. We agree to
disagree theologically.
What are your questions? These are important – we seek to
live the question. And now that I have a bunch of your questions here let me do
my best to respond. Some of them may turn into sermons if I cannot respond here
at this moment.
Q: Alan, do you have a vision of how large you would like
our congregation to be?
A: As large as there are seekers here in the Oak Park area
that are looking for community; that are looking for sanctuary to cultivate
their own moral reason, their own religious clarity, wanting to be in community.
How large do I want it to be? I want it to be as large that it serves as many
people that are seeking what we have. How large is that, I don’t know.
Q: There appears to be only a handful of African-Americans
in this congregation despite our geographic and demographic location. What can
we do to reach out to this community, so our congregation better reflects the
diversity of our greater community?
A: This is a great question. The worship hour is the most
segregated hour in America. Very few congregations effectively diversify. That
doesn’t mean that shouldn’t seek to be welcoming. How can we be more welcoming?
To treat every individual as a human being; to be welcoming honestly; to learn
about one’s own internal racism. That is, to find where one’s own prejudices are
coming from. To grow spiritually within so that, no matter who you are engaging
with, you can learn from them, honoring any person despite the color of their
skin, understanding that we can grow together. There are a number of other ways
we can be welcoming such as having music that’s not just the educated, elite,
white, classical genre – as important and sacred as that music is. There are
other ways. This is a great question. We’ll likely get more answers in time.
Q: Are we Unitarian Universalists joined together by what
we believe or don’t believe?
A: Great question! I hate it when people define their faith
by what they don’t believe: “I don’t believe in heaven”, “I don’t believe that
God is looking at us down from up high”, “I don’t believe this or that.” Well
what do you believe? I was with the 4th graders where we had
this great conversation. They were telling me what they don’t believe. I said
“What do you believe?” This is a really good question – what do you
believe? And it’s true, we do have shared beliefs. When I said at the beginning
of the service that the central question for us is not “What do you believe?”
but “How shall we live?” – it’s those meta-beliefs about how we agree to live
together that we share in common. What we share, the beliefs we share, are to be
respectful of one another, that different people from different places can come
to different answers for theological and deep meaningful questions. That we can
learn from each other. In fact, being in religious community is a mandate for us
to learn from each other. That is, not to be solitary people in a vacuum. That
meaning comes from being in relationship with others, deepening around the most
important questions of our lives.
Q: How do we talk to children about death? What happens to
a person after they die?
A: This reminds me of the service on Hell, where one of the
kids asked me directly, “So where do we go after we die?” And I answered, “Some
of us believe that there’s a heaven. Others of us believe that when we die we
become the flowers, become a part of the earth. Others of us believe in
something called reincarnation.” What’s important to me, as your minister, is
not exactly what happens after we die, but how we live in the here and now. That
is, how we prepare for our own death. How to prepare for death is to live with
integrity here and now, clearly, seeking to be in relationship with others,
seeking to mend our relationships with the most significant people in our lives,
seeking to be in genuine dialogue with others such that we grow and others grow.
Q: How do I explain our faith to a friend?
A: Well, sometimes I say we Unitarian Universalists believe
in live before death. That doesn’t mean some of us believe in life after
death, but I say that to really provoke conversation, not trying to get at who
we are. In a nutshell, the best way I know how to answer that question is, for
us the central question is not “What do you believe?”, but “How shall we live?”
We have a different way of being religious. It’s a different paradigm, a
different way of being religious than believing a certain thing. We believe that
we need to be engaged with human beings, in genuine community, growing with one
another, growing individually. How do you explain your faith? I urge you to
share where you’re coming from. My faith is this. And learn about our tradition
and be able to say the Unitarian tradition and the Universalist tradition. This
is where were from – know our story. So how do you explain your faith to a
friend? Learn about our faith and know where you stand personally in
relationship to that faith.
Q: What is most the important thing kids take away from
religious education class in the first through fourth grade?
A: Our fourth grade curriculum is especially important.
It’s when our kids learn about our faith tradition, that is “What do we
believe?” They also learn what we don’t believe. But what’s especially important
is that they learn what we do believe, and that they are given the space to say
“This is what I believe.” They also learn values of respect: respect for
other people, respect for the earth, respect for other religious traditions.
Respect for people who use the word God and want to use it, and respect for
people who don’t want to use the word God. Our fourth graders, by the way, are
far more intelligent than what most of us give them credit for. Children are
really extraordinary, and if we them the right environment, we will be
cultivating the leaders of tomorrow.
Q: What does our faith have to offer the world that exists
outside the walls of this temple on days other than Sunday?
A: Great question! What does our faith have to offer the
world that exists outside the walls of this temple? It has to offer what is
inspired in each and every one of you. It is my hope worship here nourishes,
soothes, challenges, provokes people. Inspires people to go out and live with
integrity. That if you are dealing with an ethical issue, that this hour we are
together will make a difference in what you decide out there, outside the walls.
That each of you are engaged outside these walls, and I would hope that your
faith that gets nourished here – where your understanding of what’s truly
important that gets fed here – will be taken out. So that’s one way, one big
way. Another way is our faith in being in relationship with others. I would hope
that we as individuals, and even in time as groups within this congregation, are
in conversation and relationship with, learning about, and being changed by our
relationship with other groups of people that may not be as like us as we used
to dealing with or talking with or being in relationship with.
Q: Some adult religious education activities have fees
associated with them. Why, for some on a very tight budget can’t afford it? Is
there a sliding scale or waiver process?
A: I certainly hope there’s a waiver process. I assume
there is. If there’s not, let me know. I just don’t know the answer to that
question. Secondly, the primary reason that we have what I see to be a token –
I’m of two minds on this. First of all, it’s good to have a token amount when
people sign up, asking them to give ten dollars for a class. Ten dollars so that
it is more or less saying, “I’m going to be there.” It’s a small commitment to
being there. Then again, if people are pledging 3 to 5 percent of your income,
why should we be nickel-and-dimeing folks for the programs? We’ll the answer
probably is, folks here are not yet giving 3 to 5 percent of their income. And
when we are there lets have that conversation. It’s a great question. I don’t
like nickel-and-dimeing folks, in fact I don’t want to see religious education
fees in the future, but at present we feel like we can’t afford all that goes
into that program without those fees. That’s the way we fund it. Now let’s
actually get our pledges up there so we don’t have to have that, so that if
everyone who has children in the program know that everything is being funded by
our pledges then everybody is pledging what they can, not just what they need to
to cover this expense or that expense. It’s an interesting dichotomy.
Q: What do you see as the difference between religion and
spirituality?
A: John Godby of Meadville Lombard said, about 5 years
before he died at a conference I was at, “A purely spiritual religion is a
purely spurious religion.” That is, a religion that is only spirit is not going
to be involved with other people. Religion comes from the word ‘religio’ which
means to bind together. Religion does not have to be a bad word. I know a lot of
us want to say, “I’m a spiritual person, I am not a religious person.” I hear
where you’re coming from in that. There has been so much awful stuff in a lot of
organized religion. I want to acknowledge that front and center. And ‘religio’,
to bind together, to be a part of a congregation that pulls people together, to
be in relationship with one another, to grow together. There can be good
religion.
What does “spiritual” mean? Well that ranges the gamut for
who’s answering the question. What does it mean to me? “Spiritual” means to me
that which relates to what we cannot put words to adequately. Then again, you
will have your definition and if you have a definition you especially want to
share with me you are welcome to do so, because my faith is in process just as
yours is.
Q: Could we all get a copy of Joyce’s beautiful reading?
[laughter from the congregation]
A: That’s up to Joyce!
Q: Would it be possible to inform the congregation of the
religious education curriculum?
A: It’s no secret, and it would be great to have an avenue
to do this. I will give this to Bob Fox, because I don’t see why not. In fact,
I’m sure it’s available, I just know the avenue.
Q: Is there a place in our worship for more ritual, even if
ritual can feel overly evocative of an exclusive tradition or theology? How can
we enrich our services in this way and still be Unitarian Universalists?
A: Great Question! There’s all different types of rituals.
There are some rituals which we have in this service. We have a number of
rituals in this service. In fact, some people say to me, “Golly, I’m coming from
another congregation and we don’t have anything like the rituals here.” And then
I hear people here go to someplace like King’s Chapel say “Oh migosh, the ritual
there is overwhelming! I did not know you could be Unitarian Universalist and
have all that ritual.” So it is a matter relativity, though I want to
acknowledge a number of people’s needs here. I would love to hear from those who
are longing for more ritual. We have certain services here during the year, such
as our Remembrance service with the Pastoral Associates, that make use of
ritual. And I can, in time, cultivate more rituals. The more people that we get
into our congregation the more difficult it is to do rituals like having
everyone come up to light a candle. But having worship services that are a
little bit smaller we can have them be more intimate, with ritual - it’s easier
to work in ritual. I will also seek to find rituals that are meaningful such as
we had during our Forgiveness service the day before Yom Kippur, where we all
read – and I know not everyone liked this but a lot of people really did – we
read “I forgive you, I forgive myself, may we begin again in love.” Reading that
over and over after several pieces of a litany. That’s a type of ritual. In
fact, there’s a great book by Robert Fulghum From Beginning To End.
Robert Fulghum, who wrote All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarden,
was a Unitarian minister for 30 years, at the church down the street from where
I served in Woodinville. He was in Edmunds, Washington – not while I was there –
but had been there for 30 years, and he wrote a book called From Beginning To
End which is about the rituals of our lives, from birth to death. It’s a
wonderful book about rituals and one that I rely on, that I take a lot from.
Q: Do you have any brothers or sisters? Tell us about them.
[laughter from the congregation]
A: My brother Cliff Taylor lives in Bakersfield,
California, has a master’s in social work and works with troubled youth
currently. He and I were not close while growing up and have become much closer
since we both became adults. I’ll have to ask him if he’s willing to be in a
sermon sometime.
Q: How can a person who is politically conservative be a
member of this denomination? Do we have to be liberal politically?
A: Can you be a conservative and be a Unitarian
Universalist? Absolutely! There’s a lot of positive things about conservativism.
There’s also a lot of awful things that get played out by people who call
themselves conservative. But being conservative does not necessarily mean that
you don’t have an open mind, and that you are unwilling to dialogue. If you have
an open mind and are willing to dialogue about religious matters, it doesn’t
matter what your politics are to be a member of this congregation. It is true
that the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations does typically draw
liberal politically liberal members. But it is not a requirement at all – not
at all – to be politically liberal to be a part of this congregation.
Surprise maybe, but if you are politically conservative here you might feel a
little out of water at times given the conversation, so I have to acknowledge
that. And I have to say, there are some conservatives here, and I have quite a
bit of respect for them being here.
Q: What are your own spiritual practices?
A: Great question. I, six years ago, started sitting Zen,
daily in the morning, and that’s my basic practice, to which I have added a
contemplative prayer practice. And I tell you, it is tough to sit… Zen is the
most rigorous practice I know of, and it’s very hard to get to the point of
doing it daily. It took me years to get to the point of doing it daily. It
didn’t happen until six years ago. Now that I am doing it daily, you might be
able to imagine that it’s very difficult for me not to think about sermons
during my meditation practice. I preach beautifully during my meditation
[laughter from the congregation]. It’s difficult - I sit there and have these
great thoughts come up. But you know, if I am focused on my sermons, I am not
really getting to the place of no mind, which is really the deepest place. I
strongly support spiritual practice, as you probably have noticed from recent
sermons, and urge everyone to find their own. You don’t have to have a rigorous
one like Zen meditation, and you might not be of the sort that wants or needs a
contemplative tradition, though I do notice that contemplatives are drawn to
Unity Temple. There are other spiritual practices, such as walking. Even
knitting can be a spiritual practice if it is done on a daily basis with the
intention of quieting – getting to a peaceful place from which one can then
engage the world with more authenticity, clarity, and intentionality.
Q: What do you as the greatest strengths and weaknesses of
the congregation?
A: [He laughs] That’s a great question, and I don’t know if
I can answer that in two minutes… The strengths are the commitment, the building
commitment and energy here. Over the last few years the commitment has just
grown and grown. Weaknesses… There still is some suspicion, there’s still some
cynicism. Any congregation that has a long heritage can’t but develop cynicism
and as your spiritual leader I want to acknowledge that there is a lot of reason
to be cynical. We need not live from a place of cynicism.
Q: The challenge for me has always been appropriate
boundaries. How do we respond to the challenge of being there for yourself and
your neighbor?
A: Great question. Wonderful question. Sermon
question!
Q: What do you pray to?
A: I do use God language though I can’t say I
intellectually believe in a God. However, when I do use the word God I see my
breath going even deeper. I use God language because it works for me
personally. Not always, but even though I don’t intellectually believe in a
God, I see myself going especially deep when I am most humble. I don’t know of
any other word that really captures the ultimate as the word God. I’ve let go of
all the baggage that I grew up with around the word God, so that’s why I do use
it at times. I also use Spirit of Live, Source of all Love, and that’s often
what I use in public. Sometimes I’ll use the word God and sometimes I won’t
address anything because it’s just putting out there our intention, our longing,
our real-ness, I don’t think necessarily needs a name.
-o-o-o-
I’ve got so many cards here still. If you have a question
that I have not answered, and you want an answer please write me, phone me, and
I’ll be happy to answer.
The last time I did a service like this in Woodinville, a
13 year old girl who was visiting with her mother – hadn’t been in a Unitarian
church or congregation before – wrote down on her card: “If I don’t believe in
God or if I don’t know what to believe about God will I go to Hell if I die
tomorrow?” It was so good to read that question and respond immediately, “NO!
You will not go to Hell because you are not sure about God.” The Hell that
exists is that which we bring about in our own lives. The Hell that exists is
that which is created by people who aren’t aware or awake to the Love that’s at
the center of reality.
Live your questions. If you don’t find answers, it’s OK.
But be in dialogue with others, and know that answers may come, answers that
meet you as deep as you need to go.
May it be so.
Blessed be.
Amen.
© Copyright 2004 Alan C.
Taylor, All Rights Reserved.
