All Your Strength? Sunday, March 30, 2014 Rev. Bruce Southworth, Senior Minister The Community Church of New York Unitarian Universalist

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1 All Your Strength? Sunday, March 30, 2014 Rev. Bruce Southworth, Senior Minister The Community Church of New York Unitarian Universalist Readings (1) Regarding our daily life, this religious curiosity we have, I return again to the mid-20 th century theologian Henry Nelson Wieman ( ), about whom I have been writing a good bit during this recent sabbatical. way: Throughout his life, Wieman addressed a single question, which he stated this What operates in human life with such character and power that it will transform men and women as they cannot transform themselves, saving them from evil and leading them to the best that human life can ever reach, provided that they meet the required conditions? His approach was empirical and pragmatic, as he sought to demonstrate the viability of faith in a scientific age. The reality of creative events, of creative communication (or creative interchange ), and of a process of Creativity became selfevident for him, as well as intellectually compelling. God. Creativity was of such a trustworthy character that he chose to identify it with It was his conclusion that transformation of self and of society arises when we put ourselves under the guidance of a ruling commitment to Creativity. As Wieman put it, we find our salvation, our deepest satisfaction and our fullest actualization of potentialities in a creativity which operates in our own personality, in society and history to reconstruct the world. (2) David Foster Wallace in 2005 gave the Commencement address at Kenyon College, and Wallace began with a story: 1

2 There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says "Morning, boys. How's the water?" And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, "What the hell is water?" [Wallace continues] The point of the fish story is merely that the most obvious, important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about. Stated as an English sentence, of course, this is just a banal platitude, but the fact is that in the day to day trenches of adult existence, banal platitudes can have a life or death importance. (3) For our third reading, I turn to Harvard philosopher Robert Nozick ( ). As an undergraduate, I took his popular course titled The Meaning of Life largely a survey of religions. As I recall, I received an A in that course, which probably doesn t end up saying much given that I was but a senior in college. One of his major works, in which he later saw some shortcomings, was a defense of libertarian philosophy that he offered as an antidote to the now classic A Theory of Justice by his colleague John Rawls. Nozick in his volume The Examined Life writes, Humanity s great spiritual teachers Buddha, Socrates, Jesus, Gandhi and others are models, shining personal examples. (p. 253) We can list some features although not every such figure will have every one. First, they exemplify what they hold important; their values infuse their lives. The things they hold important are in fact good and shining values, admirable ones for example, inquiry in the case of Socrates, compassion in the case of Buddha, love in the case of Jesus, nonviolence in the case of Gandhi. They are marked by certain traits: kindness, nonviolence, love of living beings, simplicity, directness, honesty, purity, focus, intensity, making life a realization of deeper reality, [qualities of] inner calm, relative unconcern for material or worldly goods, radiant energy, great inner strength. These beings speak to, and bring us back to, the best within us. In their presence we are reminded of 2

3 our own neglected heights, embarrassed to be less than our best selves. We sense in them not just a collection of highly admirable qualities but a different internal organization and structure. They are vessels of light. (p. 254) All Your Strength? Rev. Bruce Southworth For 20 or 25 years of my life, maybe longer, my faith was one of idolatry. I grew up in it... It surrounded me. I drank it in. I was a true believer like so many in Western cultures. Like so many Unitarian Universalists, which is my childhood and lifelong heritage. Like so many today. The false god of my faith was the primacy of the individual. My heroes were rugged individualists: o Socrates, who was put to death for agitating Athens by asking questions; o the carpenter s son Jesus, who threw the money-changers out of the temple; o the heretic Catholic priests like Michael Servetus and Giordano Bruno, burned at the stake during the Reformation, Servetus in 1553 and Bruno in They denied the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus, the virginity of Mary and other Catholic doctrines. My heroes included early Unitarians like Henry David Thoreau, who offered a transformative essay On Civil Disobedience in 1849, and his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose 1841 essay on Self-Reliance was a staple of high school English literature. In my Sunday School class, I knew Margaret Fuller, distant relative of the 19 th century Transcendentalist feminist powerhouse of the same name. Individual self-development and character formation are still often the norm. o Know thyself, rings the Delphic oracle. o This above all to thine own self be true, declares Polonius in Shakespeare s Hamlet. 3

4 The playful poet E. E. Cummings, son of a Boston Unitarian Minister, wrote, To be nobody-but-yourself-in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else-means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. ( 3 Statements on Poetry ) I still affirm much of each of these, and I still believe in personal growth, cultivation of character, personal responsibility, and development of our individual potentials growing our souls. And, this is not enough. I realize more fully the reality, needs, and demands of something more our interdependence the web or existence the connections that create society local communities. neighborhoods. To respond to this gift of Life by building bridges. Individuality is a blessing, but individualism is a destructive ideology, a false construct, and a danger, yeah even poisoning our society, and sometimes our churches. At the same time, I still embrace the call to individual freedom, growth, differentiation, and self-affirmation. But I do so with awareness that who we are is the result of social interactions. We cannot really exist come into fullness of being without others. We cannot thrive or flourish alone. Hillel strikes a necessary balance, when he first asks, If I am not for myself, who shall be. And then adds, If I am only for myself, what am I? and concludes, If not now, when? Perhaps everyone comes to this awareness, but the matter of fidelity to others commitment to matters, or values and deeds, beyond one s own self is sometimes only partial, slow in coming, or neglected. Last week I spoke about spiritual vitality as becoming Caretakers of Wonder, essential for human health and happiness: Becoming skilled in Appreciative Awareness of all that we encounter. For this 2 nd installment about spiritual basics, I offer as a question: What lens, filter, calling, conclusion, commitments what faith, God, hopes, and dreams what guides you? What rules you? Are you all-in really? Deeply committed, or but a casual lip service? 4

5 Or, at least, is there something that nags you toward your better, best self in the community of fellow travelers on this planet a commitment bigger than one to your own pursuits? How do you describe it, and is it enough? What ruling commitment or commitments help you grow your soul to be a vessel of light? That enhance human solidarity cooperative action? To see the initially libertarian philosopher Robert Nozick affirm meaning in becoming part of the vast, never-ending cosmic processes of Life and be in solidarity with all fellow beings is a deeply humane affirmation. A holy embrace. His is a thoroughgoing Naturalism. Others, I know, find God in Nature (or beyond) as an anchor to which some include Jesus. Or Allah or. the options are many. For me, this journey as a vessel of light, or becoming such a vessel, finds expression in a Religion of Creativity... in aligning myself with Nature s creativity with abundant symbols, insights from spiritual traditions around the world and throughout history. Appreciative Awareness in the service of co-creativity: this-worldly actions of courage and hope with blessings abounding. Among my spiritual teachers is the poet Marge Piercy, who writes: I try hard to be simple, to remember always to ask for whom what is done is done. Who gets and who loses? Who pays And who rakes off the profit? Whose life is shortened? Whose heat is shut off? Whose children end shooting up or shot in the streets? I try to remember to ask simple questions Her observations remind of David Foster Wallace s words in his commencement address in 2005 at Kenyon College. One of our Board members shared it last year, and I shared part of it with you too. Speaking to graduating seniors, Wallace concludes, as adults, humans, 5

6 You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn't. You get to decide what to worship. Because here's something else that's weird but true: in the day-today trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship be it JC or Allah, be it YHWH or the Wiccan Mother Goddess, or the Four Noble Truths, or some inviolable set of ethical principles is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you. On one level, we all know this stuff already. It's been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, epigrams, parables; the skeleton of every great story. The whole trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness. I would add not only keep this up front in daily consciousness. Not just appreciative awareness but also our responses. What we do with our awareness, our consciousness. There is the exploring, knowing, finding, making commitments to some thing greater than oneself, with or without God, God-talk and acting upon them. All of which we know. Why do this? Because there are many things to worship some or many of which, will eat us alive. False gods, like individuality raised to an ethic and practice of Individualism will, for example, be one of those things that eats us alive. Fidelity, faithfulness to that greater than ourselves is not always easy. One of the spiritual teachers of our time was Martin Luther King, Jr., assassinated 46 years ago come this Friday. 6

7 Mindfulness exercise mindfulness. which invites us into transcendence. Appreciative awareness was part of King s life, and I have always been moved by King s story about his visit to the subcontinent of India. He and his wife Coretta spent a weekend at the southernmost point of the subcontinent, Land s End. He speaks of the "interior" resources given to us and describes his experience: Nothing stretches before you except the broad expanse of rolling waters. (Here meet the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea.) Seated on a huge rock that slightly protrudes into the ocean, we were enthralled by the vastness of the ocean and its terrifying immensities. As the waves unfolded in almost rhythmic succession and crashed against the base of the rock on which we were seated, an oceanic music brought sweetness to the ear. To the west we saw the magnificent sun, a great cosmic ball of fire, appear to sink into the very ocean itself. Just as it was almost lost from sight, Mrs. King touched me and said, "Look, Martin, isn't that beautiful!" I looked around and saw the moon, another ball of scintillating beauty. As the sun appeared to be sinking into the ocean, the moon appeared to be rising from the ocean. When the sun finally passed completely beyond sight, darkness engulfed the earth, but in the east the radiant light of the rising moon shone supreme. (Strength to Love, pp ) Seized by the graciousness and beauty that always remains, even at times forgotten, he invites us into our own moments of wonder and healing. He adds a warning. Honesty impels me to admit that (being creatively maladjusted) is always costly and never altogether comfortable, may mean walking through the valley of the shadow of suffering, losing a job, or having a sixyear-old daughter ask, "Daddy, why do you have to go to jail so much?" But we are gravely mistaken to think that... (religion) protects us from the pain and agony of mortal existence. To be sure on other occasions, he also acknowledged personal temptations and not always fulfilling his calling and commitments (to his family we eventually learned). Seductions of all kinds confront us. 7

8 Yet we can and do so often act upon our higher selves. A colleague, Naomi King [no relation to Dr. King], tells a story about King s creativity, practicality, and his ability to remain open to new possibilities. She writes about Martin Luther King, Jr. meeting with (his colleagues who were leading) the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. [It was] on the day that Robert Kennedy was appointed attorney general of the United States. When word came, a collective groan echoed around the room, for the SCLC s worst fears had come true. Robert Kennedy was then not known to be a friend to those fighting for civil rights, but rather seen as standing on the side of the segregationists. One minister after another laid out Bobby Kennedy s failings to that point, until King called an end to it. Enough, he said. No one speak until someone has something good to say about this man. A long silence ensued. Finally, someone said, Well, he s very devout and close to Bishop So-and-so. King said, Good. We can work with him. And they proceeded to do so, through Robert Kennedy s Bishop, and then eventually directly with one of the greatest defenders of civil rights this country has ever known. My colleague adds, Imagine with me the energy in that room, every nerve on edge, quivering, vibrating, as each person there held out, searching for something good to say about a man who had shown little sign of being freedom s friend. And then the turn is made, the good thing is spoken and the rush of relief and hope and joy that sends our nerves into another dance, off the precipice between fear and hope, and definitely into the country of hope, the house of freedom, that experience of being transformed in love. To be able to identify, hold, and turn that moment this is what it means to be creatively maladjusted and to transform society in love. Are you ready to identify, hold, and turn that moment when it comes to you? (Naomi King, Sermon for January 15, 2006, Creative Maladjustment in recognition of Rev. Martin Luther King) Those turn-around moments await, and most of us here know those times when we have made a difference, know we can do that, need to try to do that even when such efforts seem useless. 8

9 And I return to Dr. King s guidance. What might be a powerful ruling commitment for you with or without God? King reminds us of one of the transcendent, sacred choices, open to each of us: everybody can be great. Because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein s theory of relativity to serve. You don t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. And you can be that servant. Becoming vessels of light and possibility. All of which brings me back to an encounter between a parent and child, sometimes titled, Are You Heavy Laden? It tells of a small boy trying very hard to lift a heavy object. A parent comes along into the room and notices the son s struggle, and then asks, Are you using all your strength? Yes, of course, I am, the child impatiently exclaimed. No, you are not, the parent answered. You haven t asked me to help you. The poet Marge Piercy puts it this way: Strong is what we make/each other. I like the rabbinic image that suggests that our lives are like jigsaw puzzles. We have within ourselves numerous pieces of life s puzzle to put together. As it turns out, some of us have more pieces than others. And for some that is a joy, and for others it is a challenge. What is equally true is that not you, not me none of us has within us all the pieces. Some of the pieces that we need necessarily come from others, and in fact, many of the pieces may come from others. And, the truth of the matter is that sometimes we know that and we may even know which pieces we can offer in a fitting way. And sometimes, we don t know that, and we don t know what if anything we have to offer, which can be frustrating. Whether we know it or not, some of the pieces we give away, which may be worthless to you, the rabbis would say, may be exactly what the other person needs, 9

10 and we are messengers of Light, the sacred, God, especially when we use the strength we give each other all our strength. A religion of Appreciative Awareness here, now as Caretakers of Wonder and a religion of Co-creativity sharing our strength will feed, nurture, illumine, and bless, over against all those paths that may eat us alive when individualistic pursuits rule us. Again, the puzzle of Life has many pieces, many paths, many symbols of faith and commitment, much mystery and too much pain. Yet we know that exploring and living for those things that are bigger than we are makes our spirits come alive. A final image, metaphor, story comes from Homer s Odyssey, a sacred journey of courage, boldness, and self-discovery, from a weak soul at times, who becomes stronger. Odysseus is given a remarkable opportunity, one that some of us might long for, or think that we long for. Our hero, after a twenty-year absence from his home, from Ithaca, is still Kalypso s captive on an island where he was a castaway. He is both her lover and a prisoner. Zeus finally decrees that Kalypso, a goddess, must allow Odysseus to leave, if he wishes. But the goddess puts the choice to him in this way: He may return to Penelope, his wife; he may go home again; but he shall die like other mortals. However, if he chooses to remain with Kalypso, he shall become immortal although remaining in exile. It is a tragic choice. Or perhaps not. Kalypso speaks: And Odysseus answers: If you could see it all, before you go All the adversity you face at sea You would stay here, and guard this house and be Immortal though you wanted her forever, That bride for whom you pine each day, Can I be less desirable than she is? Less interesting? Less beautiful? Can mortals Compare with goddesses in grace and form? My quiet Penelope how well I know would seem, a shade before your majesty, death and old age being unknown to you, 10

11 while she must die (as well as I). Yet, it is true, each day I long for (her and) home. A metaphor for fidelity both hers and his, an image for integrity, over against the seductions of the spirit, and over against the pain, the weariness, and the comforts of compromise. Expanding the image to our time and today s society, it echoes that call to move beyond individualism, self-indulgence, and individual gain to embrace a life and a politics in which we are all in this together. And your ruling commitment, path, faith? To God, or sacred Creativity? To Socrates inquiring mind? Buddha s compassion? Jesus ethic of love? Gandhi s nonviolence? What heals and holds you? What sustains you? What ruling commitment is yours? Fidelity to the struggle to be human and to live with honor a sacred journey of a caring soul a journey not for oneself alone: Using all our strength, a journey with and for others as vessels of light. 11

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