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Rev. Michelle LaGrave
March 10, 2024
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

During this “Great Turning,” it can sometimes feel more like the world is turning away from truth and justice rather than toward it. How, during these often troubling times, might we sustain hope?

Chalice Lighting

This is the flame we hold in our hearts as we strive for justice for everyone. This is the light we shine upon systems of oppression until they are no more. This is the warmth that we share with one another as our struggle becomes our salvation.

Call to Worship

THE GREAT TEACHERS IN LIFE
Jason Cook

We seekers are on a quest:
A quest to discover truth and meaning.
Sometimes we think we’ve found it-
Wrapped up, glimmering with newness
Straight off the intellectual assembly line.
All the answers right here for us
And others, if they’d only listen.
But truth has a way of coming in disguise,
Sometimes wearing rags and sometimes finery,
But so often cloaked from our immediate sight.
And sometimes, that which we have rejected,
That which we have let go of
Or decided was only for others
But not us-Can be our teacher.
Let our time of worship be an acknowledgment
Of the never ending journey toward truth and meaning,
And our appreciation of those we learn from along the way.

Affirming Our Mission

Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.

Reading

THE WEB OF LIFE
Robert T Weston

There is a living web that runs through us
To all the universe
Linking us each with each and through all life
On to the distant stars.
Each knows a little corner of the world, and lives
As if this were his all.
We no more see the farther reaches of the threads
Than we see of the future, yet they’re there.
Touch but one thread, no matter which;
The thoughtful eye may trace to distant lands
Its firm continuing strand, yet lose its filaments as they reach out,
But find at last it coming back to him from whom it led.
We move as in a fog, aware of self
But only dimly conscious of the rest
As they are close to us in sight or feeling.
New objects loom up for a time, fade in and out;
Then, sometimes, as we look on unawares, the fog lifts
And there’s the web in shimmering beauty,
Reaching past all horizons. We catch our breath;
Stretch out our eager hands, and then
In comes the fog again, and we go on,
Feeling a little foolish, doubting what we had seen.
The hands were right. The web is real.
Our folly is that we so soon forget.

Sermon

Several years ago, pre-pandemic, and with great excitement, I went to see the film Wonder Woman. The movie is about the famous comic strip superhero who has been around for generations. Without giving away the plot, just in case you haven’t seen it yet or aren’t overly familiar with the comic strip, I’ll share the story of her origins as portrayed in the movie. Wonder Woman is an Amazon; yes, those Amazons we have heard about from Greek mythology. Her mother is a Queen; they live on Paradise Island with only other women warriors; and she is the only child amongst them. Wonder Woman plays the role of hero and her male sidekick, the damsel in distress.

Though many have long thought the Amazons to be only the stuff of legend; more recently archaeologists have confirmed their existence. Or, perhaps more accurately, archaeologists have demonstrated the historical existence of the women around whom this famous mythology has arisen. They were Scythian warriors; groupings of nomadic people who lived on the steppes of Eurasia and rode horses millennia ago, perhaps as early as the Bronze Age. They lived in extended family groupings of women, men and children. About a third of the warriors were female. And their territory included one island off the coast of the Black Sea. Earlier, when the skeletons of these women warriors were first discovered, they were presumed to be men due to the “masculine” nature of the grave goods associated with them. It is only with more recent DNA testing that archaeologists realized they were, indeed, actually women warriors.

There is quite a bit of mythology associated with these women, much of which deserves what we call a “content warning” these days. They were said to have lived only with other women. They were said to have killed their men and male children or maimed or castrated the young boys. They were said to have been lesbians. They were said to have had only one breast, having cut the other off to better shoot their bows and arrows while riding atop their horses. They were also known to have been heavily tattooed and fond of using marijuana.

Much of this mythology arose with the Greeks who seemed to both fear and admire these women warriors. Some of it was based in what we would call fact. The rest of it in rumor and ill-logic that might have gone something like this … obviously, no men would ever allow their women to be warriors, therefore they must live in groups of only women; since the women did not live with any men, they must have done something to the men -like kill them. Since the women did have children and women cannot procreate with each other, they must have found other ways to get pregnant, like visiting nearby societies were men did live; furthermore, since the women did have children and their offspring would surely be both female and male, the women must have done something with their male children -like kill or maim or castrate them. And so on.

All this goes to show, that we people of the 21st century are not the first victims of “fake news.” And if you haven’t figured it out already, the only scientifically verified facts, in the midst of all this fake news, are the parts about smoking pot and getting lots of tattoos. Hmm, that kind of sounds like a prehistoric version of Austin.

Today we live in a post-truth era filled with alternative facts, disinformation, and fake news, not to mention AI chatbots pretending to be customer service reps and, even worse, deep fakes. Some of this is not all that new. Before there was fake news there were hoaxes and propaganda; some of it even published in what today we would consider more reputable publications. What is new, is the speed at which fake news travels; mostly due to social media, and the extremely high quality of deception; due to advancing technology.

Living in a post-truth era often feels somewhat surreal. This can be underscored when the practice of gaslighting is added to the dissemination of fake news. In the aftermath of the attack in Charlottesville a half dozen years ago, members of the alt-right circulated fake news stories claiming that the person who videotaped the car driving into the crowd was not there by coincidence, but “in fact” was there as a set-up from the Left to discredit the Neo-Nazis. Let me repeat that, the alt-right claimed that the person who videotaped the car driving into the crowd didn’t just happen to be there, but was intentionally planted, ahead of time, as a set-up from the Left to discredit the Neo-Nazis. It’s mind-blowing, isn’t it? And it’s intentional, but we’ll get to that in a little bit.

NPR did a news segment, a while back, on the problems science teachers are having teaching students, due to the prevalence of fake news stories that have come into circulation. For example, science teacher Nick Gurol says his students believe the earth is flat. Why? Because a basketball player named Kyrie Irving said so. No matter what the science teacher says, whether simply correcting the students or reasoning with them, they will not change their minds. They believe the earth is flat. Gurol says: “They think that I’m part of this larger conspiracy of being a round-Earther.” In other NPR segments describing what teachers are doing to effectively combat fake news, one teacher shared that a student asked the question “What is news?” Other students asked a NPR reporter if NPR traffics in fake news.

And here is the crux of the matter, the paradox – Sam Harris, a well-known atheist and neuroscientist puts it this way:

“If someone doesn’t value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn’t value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?”

These are questions that don’t have easy answers. 

So how did we get here? – to this place where facts are not to be believed and science is considered a conspiracy?

Well, there are people who study this stuff. Robert Proctor and David Dunning are two of the more well-known figures. And … this field of study has a name: agnotology.

AGNOTOLOGY is commonly defined as the study of culturally induced ignorance or doubt i.e. ignorance or doubt purposefully created and spread by people, typically those in power.

I say “typically” because with the advent of social media, those who are otherwise lacking in power, now also have the ability to spread ignorance and doubt. Actually, anyone can do this through the power of social media – either intentionally or as unwitting prey to more powerful interests. 

Janna Rose and Marcos Barros, two professors at the Grenoble School of Management, describe it this way:

“Agnotology is more than the study of what we don’t know; it’s also the study of why we are not supposed to know it. One of its more important aspects is revealing how people, usually powerful ones, use ignorance as a strategic tool to hide or divert attention from societal problems in which they have a vested interest.”

Examples include the tobacco industry spreading doubt about the negative health consequences of smoking as well as conservative think tanks spreading controversy about the science of climate change.

So how can agnotology help us to better understand this world we find ourselves living in? Julian Birkinshaw, of the London Business School Review cautions us that in attempting to understand our current political climate “we shouldn’t mix up cause and effect: contempt for expert advice is what created the Trump bandwagon, not vice versa.” (as well as Brexit, if you live on the other side of the pond) I’ll repeat that: contempt for expert advice causes bandwagons. Bandwagons, or their leaders, don’t cause contempt for expert advice.

Birkinshaw tells us that there are two distinct trends that are shaping our understanding of the world.

• • The first is that humans are becoming stupider if stupider is measured relative to all the world’s collective knowledge. In other words, while our IQs have indeed risen a bit, they have not kept pace with the exponential growth in humankind’s collective knowledge. He says: “The gap between what each one of us knows and what the world knows is growing rapidly.”

• The second trend Birkinshaw sees is that business and politics are growing more and more interdependent. And the effects of one on the other can be rather unpredictable. The global economy is a complex system and he says: “It is a strange paradox of our times: the more we connect, the harder it is for us to predict.”

Over these past eight or so years, I have engaged in so many, many conversations with people about what is going on in our world. Feelings of cynicism, pessimism, hopelessness, and despair about the state of the world seem to be on the rise. People are struggling to understand how we have come to be in this place; this place where, among other things, vast numbers of people vote to put in office someone who is in direct opposition to their own self-interest. Julian Birkinshaw has the best explanation I have seen about how and why this happens so I will take the time to share an extended quote. Here goes:

“Put these two points together: as individuals, we are struggling to understand the present, and it is getting hard to predict the future. The result is a form of cognitive dissonance. As thoughtful beings, we like to be in control, but increasingly we cannot. So how do we resolve this dissonance? We fall back on belief – on our own intuition.

 

This is a scary point: it is human nature to jump straight to a judgment, often on the basis of the slenderest of facts and, paradoxically, the more complex and uncertain the issue, the more we tend to trust our intuition … If asked, [a complex question like] do you support leaving the European Union, the reasoning-based part of your brain goes into meltdown, and the intuitive part takes over.

While this tendency to leap to judgment has always existed, it has become a bigger problem as individuals become (relatively) ignorant and less able to see what’s coming next. Technology then exacerbates the problem, with our Facebook and Twitter feeds … [spreading news] that [is] often completely devoid of facts. And smart politicians are quick to exploit the trend, tapping into our intuition and subconscious beliefs, rather than boring us with hard evidence. Emotion beats logic in the art of persuasion – a point that the Brexiteers and the Trump campaign understood very well.”

Emotions beat logic. Our brains go into meltdown. Our intuition takes over. We fall back on belief. I’ll repeat that:

When faced with increasingly complex issues … Emotions beat logic. Our brains go into meltdown. Our intuition takes over. We fall back on belief. We are literally overwhelmed with information. And we become susceptible to fake news, alternative facts, and disinformation; which in turn, overwhelms us. Robert Proctor sums it up best: “We live in a world of radical ignorance, and the marvel is that any kind of truth cuts through the noise.”

In one of the earlier scenes of the movie Wonder Woman; our superhero discovers that her new sidekick, the first male she has ever seen, has been deceiving her. She then wonders aloud how she would know if he is deceiving her again, now. Her solution? She wraps her lasso around him and squeezes the truth right out. Unlike Wonder Woman, none of us has a Lasso of Truth, but there are things we can do to protect ourselves and our children from a vast ocean of deception among them making use of websites like Snopes, PolitiFact, and FactCheck.

Like the man on the beach tossing starfish back into the ocean, one by one by one, we face daunting odds. It would be easy for anyone of us to lose hope in this post-truth era. But like him, and the writer who joined him, we can keep hope alive by making a difference for this one: by debunking this myth, by teaching this child to think critically, by stopping the spread of this piece of fake news and by not tolerating the intolerant, by not tolerating this hate group, by not tolerating this act of intimidation, by not tolerating this symbol of racist ideology.

It is time, in this post-truth era, to live into the paradoxes of contemporary life and stop wasting energy railing against them … verbally. I don’t mean don’t do anything. I mean stop spending energy railing against what is. You can get into a lot of Buddhism here, actually … with non-attachment and attachment. When you’re attached to the idea that logic should rule and it doesn’t, you suffer … right? So, non-attachment is what I’m talking about.

And we can look for reasons to hope. We can find reasons for hope in the North where folks are helping to pay for families who are relocating from states like ours where trans kids are not safe. They’re bringing their kids to other places. They’re helping to support people and find houses and things like that. We can be symbols of hope to each other.

It is all one thing, not many separate things. It is both and not A but B. It is the individual starfish and the ocean. It’s just that we usually see each piece of the web separately, except in those precious few moments when the fog rolls away and our hands reach for the truth.

May we see truth more clearly and hold it more dearly. Amen and Blessed Be.

Closing Words

CHERISH YOUR DOUBTS
by the Rev. Dr. Michael A Schuler

Cherish your doubts, for doubt is the servant of truth. Question your convictions, for beliefs too tightly held strangle the mind and its natural wisdom.

Suspect all certitudes, for the world whirls on-nothing abides. Yet in our inner rooms full of doubt, inquiry and suspicion, let a corner be reserved for trust.

For without trust there is no space for communities to gather or for friendships to be forged.

Indeed, this is the small corner where we connect-and reconnect-with each other.

Extinguishing the Chalice

We extinguish this flame, but not the light of truth, the warmth of community, or the fire of commitment. These we hold in our hearts until we are together again.

Benediction

NOW MAY THE LOVE OF TRUTH
by Jane Mauldin

Now may the love of truth guide you, the warmth of love hold you, and the spirit of peace bless you, this day and in the days to come.

SERMON INDEX

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Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Michelle LaGrave
February 25, 2024
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

Did you know that Unitarian Universalism has its very own theology? It is called Affect Theology and was created by the Rev. Dr. Thandeka, a Unitarian Universalist minister and theologian. This umbrella theology is an embodied theology that when well understood and applied can help UUs of multiple theological and philosophical perspectives to lead lives of wholeness and fulfillment.

Chalice Lighting

This is the flame we hold in our hearts as we strive for justice for everyone. This is the light we shine upon systems of oppression until they are no more. This is the warmth that we share with one another as our struggle becomes our salvation.

Call to Worship

THE LONGING FOR SOMETHING MORE
by Gretchen Haley

Every little thing that breaks your heart
Is welcome here
We”ll make a space for it
Give it its due time
and praise
for the wanting it represents
the longing for something more,
some healing hope that remains
not
yet

We promise no magic no making it all better
But offer only this circle of trust
This human community
that remembers
Though imperfectly
that sings and prays
though sometimes
awkwardly

This gathering that loves,
though not yet enough
We’re still practicing
After all,
still learning,
still in need of help
and partners
Still becoming able
to receive
all this beauty and all these gifts
we each bring

Come, let us worship together.

Affirming Our Mission

Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.

Story for All Ages

Once upon a time, in a magical space called Howson Hall, two Unitarian Universalists sat down together. They had just come out of the worship service. Rev. Michelle had been preaching about affect thea/ology.

“Hey, Lucas, how are you? You look like you might be feeling a little down,” said Sheldon.

“Well, I guess I kind of am, said Lucas. That sermon got me thinking about my job and I’m realizing how unhappy I am with my career.”

“What do you do?” said Sheldon.

“I sell really fancy cars, like this one. I want to help people and I like seeing how happy they are when they drive away in their new car, but I don’t love what I do in the same way the other salespeople do. They get really excited talking about engine specs and trim packages, even when they’re on break. They wave their arms around a lot when they’re talking about cars. One of them accidentally smacked me in the face the other day because she was so excited about the new car model that just arrived on the lot and she didn’t even notice I was standing next to her. But I just get so stressed out with the pressure to sell. I can feel my heart pounding in my chest and my stomach doing flip flops. I think I might need a new career.”

“Mmm, said Sheldon. That might be a good thing to think about. It sounds like even though you want to help people in a fun way, your job is just stressing you out a bit too much.”

“Thanks for listening, Sheldon. I am going to think about it some more. You’re a great friend. I’m so glad we met here.”

“Me too, Lucas.”

A few weeks later, the two friends met up once again after worship. This time, out in the courtyard.

“Hey, Lucas, how’s it going? said Sheldon.”

“Well, a little better, I guess. I left my job selling cars and now I’m trying to sell houses. I have a friend, Tanisha, who is a great realtor. Their whole face lights up with excitement when they talk about their career. I thought that selling houses would be fun, plus I thought it would feel good to help people find their home sweet home.”

“But it’s not working out that way?” said Sheldon.

“No, I’ve been job shadowing Tanisha. They still love what they do, but I’m just finding it all kind of … odd. Some of these houses just creep me out. I can feel shivers going down my spine and I get goosebumps on my arms.

“Hmm, said Sheldon. I know helping others is important to you, but maybe its not people you’re meant to help.”

“What do you mean?” said Lucas

“Well, I notice you’re wearing a shirt with dogs all over it. You seem to wear that one a lot. And I noticed you only eat the vegetarian dishes at the church potlucks. Plus, you got really excited when that tiger, India, was it?, was on the loose in Houston. You said something about wishing you could volunteer at that animal sanctuary he went to. I know you love animals a lot. Maybe you could think about helping animals instead of people?”

“Thanks, Sheldon, I will do some thinking on that. You’re the best.”

And so Lucas did just that. He went home and he thought about all that Sheldon said and about how much he loves animals and how much he loves being helpful and he made a decision. Lucas went back to school and became a vet tech. Now, he works with, and helps, the animals he loves every day as well as their human parents.

A couple of months later, the two friends met up once again, this time at a pool party at Sheldon’s house.

“Lucas, I can’t believe how much happier and more relaxed you look these days,” said Sheldon.

“Yes, I am, Sheldon,” said Lucas. “That’s in part, thanks to you. I love my new career. I’m eager to go to work each morning and find out what the day will bring and I feel so fulfilled at the end of my day. I really appreciate all the listening you did and the way you helped me put things together in a deeper way. You really are a great friend.”

“So, how are things with you, Sheldon?”

Reading

Excerpted from Braver/Wiser
by Dr. Takiyah Nur Amin

When I used to work with Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism {BLUU)-doing workshops or meeting people in UU congregations-inevitably a very well-meaning white person would ask, “Who’s the Black Emerson?” or “Who’s the Black Thoreau?”

This question is wrong; icky for so many reasons. One of the tenets of white supremacy culture is the prioritization of the written word, and not understanding that if you want to discover the “evidence” of Unitarianism, Universalism, or Unitarian Universalism in the lives of Black folks, it’s not always in written essays-because historically, we’ve had different trajectories: different levels of care and resources and access that would enable us to create something like that.

If you’re seeking sacred Black “text” in our tradition, you have to examine the way our Black ancestors lived. You have to seek out the Black folks who were in Unitarian and Universalist or UU congregations, and the work that they were doing in community-whether it was suffrage, or trying to educate Black children, or their working towards social action or civil access. Our “text” is embodied in the lives of people like Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Joseph Jordan, David Eaton, and countless others.

One of the things I love about this tradition is that our faith is covenantal and not confessional-meaning that to some degree, our tradition cares little about what you stand up and say you believe. The evidence of your Unitarian Universalism is embodied in the depth of your relationships: how do you live in relationship to self and other? {I don’t just mean human other: to the plants, to the animals, to the stars … ) The proof is in the pudding, for UUs. It’s not about what you have to say. How are you living?

Sermon

The words washed over me like the first drizzle on a parched land:

“Though you have broken your vows a thousand times;
Though you have broken your vows a thousand times;
Though you have broken your vows a thousand times … “

The rhythmic repetition of the congregation singing in unison began to settle into my body and nourish a place in my spirit I hadn’t known was thirsty. The verse continued, washing in and out like the tide, while other voices sang from above:

“Come, come, whoever you are,
wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving,
ours is no caravan of despair,
come, yet again, come.”

And … 

“Though you have broken your vows a thousand times,
come, yet again, come.”

A sense of sweetness settled upon my heart and I allowed the words to soothe me. I was sitting in the pew of the UU Church of Worcester, Massachusetts, celebrating the Soulful Sundown service. The minister, the Rev. Aaron Payson, had invited us to join in singing the missing line from Rumi’s poem; the one which does not appear in our hymnal.

I think I understand why Rumi’s verse about breaking vows does not appear in our hymnal. It has to do with the tendency of Unitarian Universalism, as a whole, to avoid all things relating to sin, confession, and forgiveness, often to our own detriment. Many, and perhaps most, of us have arrived at Unitarian Universalism after coming out of another religious tradition. And all too often, we arrive here having suffered spiritual harm from a theological language of sin, confession, and forgiveness that was used to incite feelings of guilt or shame. And so, all too often, we arrive here wanting to avoid these theological terms. Yet, this self-protective action can also come at a price. We can close ourselves down, refuse to hear or try to understand what scares us, and so reject the good and beneficial which may be mixed in and amongst the harmful.

So, while we UUs tend to avoid topics like confession or brokenness or guilt or forgiveness; sometimes, though, I think we get it right. The worship leaders at the Soulful Sundown service I went to that time got it right. I needed to hear that message that night: though I have broken my vows a thousand times, as I surely have done, I still must come. I still must approach. I still must join with. I still must return, over and over and over, again. Theirs was a message proclaiming that I belong, here, in this faith community, even in my brokenness.

Theirs was a message promising that I will be seen, here, in this, my beloved Unitarian Universalist faith tradition, for all of who I am, even the less than perfect parts, and that I will be accepted not in spite of, but because of my imperfections. Theirs was a message of hope, acceptance, and strength, not one of shame or guilt, and this is a message we all need to hear. So, I’ll repeat it in slightly different words. To truly and completely affirm ourselves and each other, we must accept those feelings of brokenness; we must accept that there are parts ourselves and each other that feel out of alignment with who we understand ourselves to be and who we hope to become. We must begin by accepting our imperfection. Only from there, will we be able to seek wholeness in any truly meaningful way.

Which brings me to … UU Theology and an introduction of Thandeka. I first met the Reverend Dr. Thandeka on Star Island a UUA/UCC camp and conference center off the coast of New Hampshire, well over a decade ago. She was then a professor at one of our UU seminaries: Meadville-Lombard Theological School; and she is a Unitarian Universalist theologian. Morning after morning, just after breakfast, for an entire week, I listened to Thandeka lecture on a system of thought she termed affect theology. She traced its evolution from Friedrich Schleiermacher through George de Benneville and William Ellery Channing and up to her own refined application to contemporary Unitarian Universalism.

Affect theology is an incredibly complex system of thought, based on neurobiology, psychology, child development, anthropology, and theology. It is also an umbrella theology: a single theology that has the inherent ability to overarch or encompass all of our individual theologies and philosophies of life. Yes, all of them – whether you consider yourself to be a UU humanist, a UU Jew, a UU Buddhist, a UU Christian, a UU atheist, a UU Pagan, or a plain-old UU; there is a home for you within the umbrella of affect theology. It is a theology to which we all belong.

In hearing Thandeka speak over the course of that week, I was both fascinated intellectually and unsettled emotionally. Somehow, I felt like my body knew the truth of her words in a way I could not articulate. Her words sounded … vaguely familiar. Her words almost … haunted me. So, ever the researcher I am, once I returned from the Island, I decided to compare what I had learned about affect theology to my very recently written credo statement. It was with that reading and in that moment that I became a believer.

I became a believer. And ever since, affect theology has been formational in the way that I think theologically, in the way that I grow spiritually, and in the ways that I teach and minister. So, what is affect theology all about and how does it work? As we prepare to explore the 4 components of affect theology, let’s imagine ourselves embarking on a journey; a journey on which we search together for truth and meaning; a journey on which we encourage one another to spiritual growth; a journey toward belonging; a journey toward wholeness; a lifelong journey.

We begin this journey in the base of our brains. This is where our brains receive both external and internal sensory input. We see, hear, taste, smell, and touch. Here, we begin to be aware that our hearts are racing, that our bodies are feeling pain, that our skin is sweating, that our muscles are relaxing. To hearken back to my Soulful Sundown experience … I heard the music: a familiar melody with a new descant weaving in and out and among notes well loved; I felt the vibrations of dozens of others singing along with me; I saw candles lit and flickering in a darkened and beautiful sanctuary. Our bodily experiences are foundational in the way we understand and live out our faith lives. Affect theology is an embodied theology.

Next, and second, on our journey, we move a bit farther up our brain stems to where our emotional responses occur. First, we experienced sensory input within our bodies. Now, we experience emotions which we feel about these same sensory experiences. I felt emotions about my worship experience – not all of which were name-able, but include feelings of comfort, relief, nourishment, reassurance, and gratitude.

Next, and third, on our journey, we move even farther up our brains and into the neocortex, the most recently evolved portion of our brains, the center of thinking, reasoning, and logic. Here it is that we think about our bodily, sensory experiences and the emotions we have felt about those experiences. Here it is that we do the work of reflection and of meaning-making. I made sense of and came to an intellectual understanding of my Soulful Sundown worship experience by thinking through that experience. I thought about the contrasts between Unitarian Universalism and Sufism in the importance each religion places on making and keeping vows and what it might mean to break those same vows. I thought about the making, keeping, and breaking of vows and how that might relate to traditional Jewish and Christian theological concepts of sin, confession, and forgiveness. And I thought about the relative lack of those same traditional theological concepts within Unitarian Universalism and what that might mean for us as a faith tradition.

Finally, with the next, and fourth, step on our journey, we move to the last component of affect theology, which is our actions. That is to say, we have sensory experiences, emotions we feel about those experiences, thoughts we think about what we experience and feel, and actions which we undertake as we interact with the world, as we live our lives. I act by admitting my mistakes, apologizing, asking for forgiveness, and changing my future behavior. I act by writing and delivering this sermon. Sensory input. Emotions. Thoughts. Actions.

According to Thandeka, it is only when these four components:

• sensory input
• emotions
• thoughts
• actions

are in alignment; it is only then, that we feel whole, that we feel fulfilled. When these four components of our lives are out of alignment, when our thoughts don’t match our actions and our feelings don’t match our thoughts, we feel broken, disaffected, fragmented, disembodied. 

Affect theology is a path to leading a life of healing and wholeness and of fulfillment; a journey which we can all choose to take, regardless of our individual belief systems. In some ways, it is simple to understand (sensory input, emotions, thoughts, actions, all in alignment) but it is not actually easy to do and will never be finally or fully accomplished by anyone.

And so it is, that I believe in being fully present to those who I am with, yet I sometimes find myself feeling impatient or becoming lost in thought. And so it is, that I believe in making careful, considered, and ethical choices when shopping, yet I sometimes find myself choosing the easiest or least expensive option rather than the most ethical one.

For each piece we snap into place, there are more to be sorted, as we continually put together the puzzle we call life and journey onward. That is why we need each other – to help sort the puzzle pieces, to support and encourage one another, to call each other back into alignment. Just as Lucas’ friend Sheldon did for him, and as Lucas will do for Sheldon.

Take note, that means I ask you to call me back into alignment with myself. That’s the beauty, the absolute beauty, at the center of this theology – I ask you, my atheist friend, to call me back into alignment with my panentheistic self, not your atheistic self. And you, you ask your Christian friend to call you back into alignment with your Pagan self. No one’s individual theology or philosophy need threaten or take away from another’s. I need you all to hear this, because the survival of our faith tradition depends on this: no one’s theology of philosophy of life need threaten another’s. What we need is each other. What we need is a faith community to which we can belong.

In other words, as individuals, incorporating affect theology into our understanding of ourselves as whole, or even holy, beings is certainly … hmm, adequate for living a moral and ethical life.

We can use this system of thought to see a way toward becoming more ethically consistent in the totality of our individual being. We can use this system of thought in a spiritual practice of self-examination and self-culture. But the concept of working on ourselves by ourselves is no longer enough. It never really was. We are intimately connected on the interdependent web of life. We can only truly and fully understand ourselves in relationship to others. A change in any one of us is felt by all. We are all one.

I’ll say a little more about this, using Thandeka’s own words. In writing about a need for a language of reverence, she defines the symbol of salvation within the context of affect theology in this way:

“Human salvation is thus a corporate affair. We were not conceived, born, or individuated alone. If others did not exist (including the wider world of nature and the universe) we would not be here. We could not be here. A basic eco-biological law of nature is that organisms cannot flourish without an environment that nurtures, sustains, and enhances their developmental continuity through life-affirming relationships. Our human affections are thus deeply private and utterly social. We feel the world upon us and within us. The world stirs our affections. We are a pulse of its life.”

We Unitarian Universalists have covenanted together as congregations in relationship to other congregations of Unitarian Universalists, to encourage and support one another in our mutual quests for spiritual growth, as we each engage in a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. And so, when the search for truth and meaning becomes difficult, when we find ourselves living too much in our heads, or too much in our hearts, we can remind each other of our need for balance; our need for alignment. Body, heart, mind, will, spirit, all are essential on our path to healing and wholeness.

After all, we are all disaffected, disembodied, or broken, in some way. This is the natural order of life and the result of our all-tao-human experiences. If we were not, we would be inhumanly perfect, and no one is. Thandeka reminds us: “We were not broken alone and we cannot heal alone. It takes a religious community to heal a broken souL” We need each other.

As Unitarian Universalists, we have long struggled in finding a foundation for our liberal theology. Lewis B. Fisher said back in 1921: “Universalists are often asked to tell where they stand. The only true answer to give to this question is that we do not stand at all, we move.” This captures something quintessentially true about liberal theology, that our theology lives and grows and changes. Our theology is constantly in the process of becoming. Thandeka demonstrates that with affect theology, our search for a foundation may be over.

The foundation of affect theology actually rests outside of theology, and within the field of science. Human experience is understood through the lens of neurobiology. As people of liberal faith, we are not likely to ever plant our feet in a cement-like faith, but here we can find a place to rest, a place to find the ground beneath our bodies, a place to stop our seemingly endless wandering. Here, within the warm embrace of affect theology, we can move forward together, with purpose, as we join with each other on a life-long journey of becoming and of belonging.

May it be so.

Benediction

There is a promise, inherent within affect thea/ology, that we might one day come more fully into our own; a promise reflected in this poem by Derek Walcott; a promise that life itself is, indeed, poetry.

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.

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