FINDING LIFE S PURPOSE A Sermon Preached by Cheryl M. Walker All Souls Unitarian Church, New York December 30, 2007 The new year is almost here, it s time to take stock of the year that is ending and start to think about the year yet to be. Most of us I suspect will look back on the year that was and remember that there were good times and bad times. Times of joy and times of sorrow. Things we were proud of and things for which we pray for the grace of forgiveness. Times when we saw in ourselves and others, the best of what it means to be alive and times when we saw in ourselves and others, the worst of what it means to be human. Hopefully the times when we were our best selves far outnumbered the times when we fell short of the mark. The past is done, whatever has happened cannot be undone, so as we approach the end of the year it is now ours to look to future. In a poem entitled The New Year, Robert Weston writes: Today I start another year It is what lies before me that concerns me now. There will be decisions and tasks, There will be drudgery, achievement and defeat. There will be joy and grief All the raw stuff of experience Waiting for me to shape, to fashion as I will. And it will never become just what I planned. Someone might say, It all depends on what the year may bring But what I make of it depends on me. 1 As we approach the new year, the poem reminds us that we will experience in the next year, what we have very much experienced in the past year. Tasks to be done, joy and grief, achievements and failure. All the same things we face every year. It further reminds us that things will happen but it is up to us to make of it as we will. This is true of not only every year but every month, every week, every day. So with that in mind we might wonder why make a big fuss about New Years day at all? It s not like some cosmic phenomenon is about to occur. Tuesday will be just like Monday in many ways. The sun will rise in the east and set in the west and if we are fortunate we will live to see both. We may have a day off from work, but it s not the only day we ever get off from work and many people have to work anyway. So why make a big deal about a day that s just like any other day? - 1 -
Well I think we like New Year s day because it represents something very precious to us - it represents hope. We look at the New Year as a time to wipe the slate clean and start again. We hope that the New Year will bring with it the promise of a new beginning of sorts. Maybe we hope that with the New Year we will give up some of those things that have enslaved us and we shall find redemption. We hope that this year will finally be the year that we give up those vices that keep us from living healthy lives. We hope that this year will be a time to let go of old hurts and pains that prevent us from experiencing life in its fullest. Or maybe we hope that the good fortune that we are grateful for will continue and that the blessings we have received will become evermore abundant. It s probably a combination of both. And if we are mature enough we don t hope for or expect the coming year to bring us to a state of perfection. We just hope that it is a good year and that the tears we shed for joy far out number the tears we shed in sorrow. That is a good thing to hope for, a good year. And we may hope all these things, yet our hopes are only that unless we decide to make them more than just hopes. Today is the fifth day of Kwanzaa, and African Americans and their friends who celebrate the holiday will light a candle to represent the principle of Nia -- Purpose. There are seven principles which we uplift during this celebration of memory and hope. They are Unity, Umoja; Self Determination, Kujichagulia; Collective Work and Responsibility, Ujima; Cooperative Economics, Ujamaa; Purpose, Nia; Creativity Kuumba, and Faith, Imani. Now if you were here last year, you re probably writing that down because I gave a quiz She wouldn t let us out until we could name three of them, better write it down this year. But don t worry, this year I won t give you a quiz; you all did really really well last year. But I like to take the principle that falls on the Sunday of Kwanzaa and use it to contemplate and mediate on the New Year to come. Since Kwanzaa is from December 26 th through January 1 st, it s a good time to think about how I would like to approach the coming year. It helps me answer what will be that to which I will most aspire in the next 365 days, or in the case of next year 366 days. Now I admit, I have favorites, and Nia is one of them. Being more purposeful in my living is something I should aspire to and Kwanzaa helps me remember that fact. This year as I have been thinking about purpose I have been focusing more on finding life s purpose, or rather my life s purpose. I don t believe that life in general has a purpose. I believe that we are here to seek and live the purpose for our being. This is not an easy task and most of the time we just don t have the time to spend looking for our purpose. We get so involved in the mundane responsibilities that confront us everyday that we barely have time to breathe much less ask the question -- what is the purpose of my living? Yet isn t that the central question of our lives -- why are we put on this earth?, what is our purpose? Forrest likes to remind us that it took quite a remarkable set of circumstances to occur for us to be here. The odds of us being just who we are, are pretty remarkable, when we think about all the people who had to come together at just the right time in just the right place for us to be here today. Was it just an accident or are we here for some purpose that only we can fulfill? - 2 -
This morning we dedicated ourselves to a child that has come into this community of faith. Little Aiden is just 4 months old. He has what we pray will be a very long road ahead of him. But what is his purpose for being here other than to remind Cathy and Christopher that a good night s sleep is indeed a blessing not to be taken for granted? We cannot tell yet, and it is not for us to tell him. It is for him to find out what his purpose is. Just as it is for us to find our own unique purposes. It is for us only to guide him along the way and along the road to discovery. Yet how can we guide him if we never traveled the road ourselves? Because we can go through life from the moment of our birth to our last dying day without ever having discovered our own true purpose in life. It is not a requirement for living. It is however a requirement for is living better. Washington Irving wrote that great minds have purpose, others have wishes. The same can be said for great lives, they have purpose. When you wake up in the morning and understand that we are more than mere accidents of creation, that we are creations of love and that we have a purpose unique to our being, well the day looks a whole lot different and whole lot brighter. Many people will purport to tell you where and how you might find your purpose in living. Rick Warren, of the Saddleback Church, will tell you in his best selling book the Purpose Driven Life, that God has a purpose for you. Now Rick and I have a different view of God. But he does say something in the beginning of his book that I must say I agree with whole heartedly. He writes, the purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It s far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. 2 If our lives are only for our own peace of mind, our own good, then we have no obligation or responsibility to the earth, to each other, to anyone but ourselves. So our purpose in life must be for something greater than what will make our own days glad. But I do believe that once we find our purpose one of the benefits will be to make our own days glad, but that is a benefit, it is not a purpose. And it is also not a guarantee. Because we may find that once we know, once we know in our heart of hearts what our purpose is, the road towards fulfilling that purpose just got a lot harder. I am thinking this morning of Benazir Bhutto. She believed that her purpose was to bring democracy to her country. She returned to that country and was put under house arrest and this past week was assassinated. But when asked why she went back, she said, that is my life s purpose. She may very well yet fulfill that purpose. Perhaps her death will result ultimately in a groundswell not for violence but for democracy. And for the first time in a long time, free elections will be held in Pakistan. It is my hope and my prayer that her death will not have been in vain. And we do not need to die to fulfill our purpose. But sometimes that is what happens. We will all die one day anyway. And we all want to live a good life with a peaceful end. But sometimes we must be willing to risk that end for the purpose to which we alone have been called. And I believe the risk is one worth taking if our lives are to make a difference. For if we make no difference whatsoever, did our lives have a purpose at all? It s easy for me to say find your purpose and live it as fully as you can. But where and how do we find our purpose? Well, I asked a friend of mine that question and she - 3 -
answered quite seriously, in the medicine cabinet of course. There seems to be a moisturizer called Purpose. Every morning she puts on her purpose. She s very funny that one. When she answered seriously though, she said that it was hard to know, but there comes a time when it becomes clear if we are only willing to open our hearts to feel its tug. I can t say for sure when it happens. For some people it happens very early in life. My younger sister is one of those people. I ve always admired the fact that from a very young age she has always known what her purpose is in life. When she was only five years old she said she wanted to grow up to teach big people. She s a college professor now and she still sees teaching as her purpose. She makes a difference not only in the lives of her students but in the lives of the students her students will teach. She is my shero in that way. But some of us, who are by nature procrastinators, don t find our purpose until much later in life. But you know, whether we find it early, or find it in our middle years or find it late, it doesn t matter when we find it, it only matters when we do. Rabbi Zusya wrote that in the world to come I shall not be asked why was I not Moses, I will be asked why was I not Zusya. Now I don t know much about the world to come. One day I guess I ll find out if there is one and I won t come back to tell you. I wouldn t want to ruin the surprise. But I do believe that we are to find our own special gifts and talents and use them in a way to make a difference in this world. No one can tell you what your purpose in life is, and only you can judge whether you have lived up to your purpose or purposes. You can have more than one. Sometimes your purpose may be your very own but sometimes your purpose may be to help someone else fulfill their purpose at that time. And sometimes it s something different altogether. As we grow and mature so will our purposes. But whatever our purposes are, it is worth the time to find them. It is worth taking a retreat from our hectic days and asking -- what am I doing on this earth at this time? Knowing that our time is short, what difference might I make while I am here? I believe one of the reasons we are in religious community with each other is to help us find our purpose in life. Paul Tillich says that Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt. And I believe we journey together in this particular community of faith because we are free to ask the question of our existence and free to find our own purpose in life. We are not given the answers. We are given the love and support of our sisters and brothers in faith to find the answers meant just for us. We are here to walk together, from the youngest to the oldest, to find our purpose. But how will we know if what we believe, if our purpose is real and worthy. Well that s where the other principles of Kwanzaa and the principles of our faith can help us discern our purpose. We need to ask ourselves a few questions. Does what we see as our purpose, further the unity, umoja, dignity and worth of all people? Does it work within the framework of a faith, imani, that is free and responsible? Will our purpose enhance the collective work of the community, ujima, and work for a goal of world peace? Is it ours from our own self-determination, kujichagulia and our right of conscience or is it something someone else said should be our purpose? Does it use our powers of creativity, kuumba and express itself in equity, compassion, and justice? And finally, - 4 -
does it respect the fragile web of existence? If the answers to these questions are yes, then it s a purpose worthy of our lives. As the New Year races towards us, let us slow down for a bit and ask the question - what is our purpose for existing? It may not make the new year an easy one, but it will make it a good one and at the very least an interesting one. So here is my hope for the New Year: May this year bring you closer to knowing the purposes of your lives, may it bring you satisfaction in the searching and joy in living of your true life s purpose. May you find your moments of joy to be many and your moments of sorrow just enough to give your joy a greater sweetness. May you each be blessed with good health, good friends, and an abundance of love and grace. And may you share the best of yourself with the world and your name be honored whenever it is spoken. My love and my best to each of you for the New Year. Amen and blessed be. 1 Robert Weston, The New Year from Rejoice Together (Boston: Skinner House Books, 1995), p. 68 2 Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), p. 17. - 5 -