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Rev. Chris Jimmerson
February 16, 2025
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

We have just celebrated another Valentine’s Day, so let’s explore the practices that help us create healthy, successful romantic relationships and how many of those same practices might also enhance our love for family, friends, and others – and might even lead us to Agape – selfless, unconditional, divine love.

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

Even after all this time,
the sun never says to the earth,
“You owe me.”
Look what happens with a love like that.
It lights the whole sky.

– Hafiz

Affirming Our Mission

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

Anthem

DIRAIT-0N (translated as “AS THEY SAY”)
Morten Lauridsen
The first UU Adult Choir; Brent Baldwin, Conductor; Valerie Diaz, Piano

Translation of the lyrics that captures the poetic intent:

Wildness surrounding wildness,
Tenderness touching tenderness,
It is your own core that you ceaselessly caress, …. as they say.

It is your own center that you caress,
Your own reflection gives you light.
And in this way, you show us how Narcissus is redeemed.

The words in French are from a collection of poems about roses by Rilke, a European poet who wrote in the early 1900’s. Rilke often wrote lyrical, mysterious poetry, and often wrote about roses. In this poem, on one level, Rilke is describing a rose. In this interpretation, Rilke sees a rose and its petals as “wildness surrounding wildness,” and yet “tenderness touching tenderness.”

He marvels that the wild and delicate rose petals are caressing the core, the center, of the rose.

Rilke then refers to the sad story of Narcissus, the vain youth from Greek and Roman mythology. When Narcissus saw his own reflection in the water of a river for the first time, Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection, not realizing it was himself. He was so in love with himself, that he refused to eat, and soon wasted away and died. To help remember him, the narcissus flower grew where he had been.

In some versions of the story, Narcissus’s soul descends to hell, where he is doomed to look at his reflection forever, and may never see another person. In Rilke’s poem (and in this song), the wildness, tenderness, and self-awareness of the rose is contrasted with Narcissus, and perhaps Rilke is suggesting that the rose can show us how Narcissus can be redeemed – that is, freed from his fate of eternally gazing only on himself and not being aware of the world or people around him.

On another level, Rilke could also be describing a lover – a lover who is “wildness surrounding wildness,” and “tenderness touching tenderness.” Again, on this level, perhaps Rilke is suggesting that a wild and tender lover can show us, how to be freed from our own narcissistic self-absorption.

Reading

From STILL LIFE WITH WOODPECKER
by Tim Robbins

Love is the ultimate outlaw.
It just won’t adhere to any rules.
The most any of us can do is to sign on as its accomplice.
Instead of vowing to honor and obey,
maybe we should swear to aid and abet.
That would mean that security is out of the question.
The words “make” and “stay” become inappropriate.
My love for you has no strings attached.
I love you for free.

Sermon

Happy Valentine’s a couple of days after the actual date.

Gretchen shared with us the four types of love earlier, and, of course, Valentines is all about love, particularly the type of love we call Eros or romantic love.

This was my first Valentines without my longtime romantic love, Wayne, so I’ve been thinking and reading a lot about what makes romantic relationships healthy – what makes them work – what made 33 years with Wayne work.

And, unexpectedly, to my surprise and grateful wonder, I have also had a valentine come into my life recently.

So I thought it might be fun, and, actually, soul nourishing, to think together a little bit today on what we know about how we might create and sustain healthy, mutually satisfying and beneficial eros love.

By far, the most common thread I found in the psychological research on the subject, is that the partners in a mutually life-enhancing romantic relationship establish as their shared goal for the relationship that each person in it fully thrive, fully flourish – they strive to support one another’s reaching for their greatest creative potential.

That rings true to me. I don’t think I would have ever become a minister, what I now know is my calling in life, if it it weren’t for Wayne.

That is a true gift he supported me in discovering.

And for each partner to thrive requires a sense of equity within the relationship.

Decision making is shared and communication is open and honest, even when it is hard.

Now, equality and being the same are not, well, the same.

So you might be better at cooking, and I might be better at organizing the kitchen, and that’s OK – we talk up front about who leads what, and we celebrate and learn from our differences, each of us becoming more creative and capable because of the other.

And by keeping communication open and discussing things up front, no one has to keep a ledger – equity is built into the ongoing interaction within the relationship.

Now, of course, there will still be disagreements.

What successful romantic partners do that help them navigate conflict though, is that they fight fair.

No personal attacks. No avoidance. No shutting down. No storming out of the room. No refusal to forgive.

Instead, the focus is on honest communication to identify where the true area of disagreement lies, make it explicit, and then find solutions that each of them can live with – or discover even better, more creative ways of addressing the issue than what either of them had come in with.

Here are some other ways that successful romantic partners support one another’s life-fulfillment:

• They infuse a sense of joy, fun, and playfulness into the relationship.

For example, they have fun, endearing “pet names” for one another. They approach their time together with humor. They schedule time to do things they both enjoy together – to play together. They reward each other with compliments and endearments freely and frequently.

• They recognize that each of us and each situation may be different as regards what might best support the other. So, they make this explicit. Instead of asking, “how can I help?”, one New York Times article suggests asking, “Would helping, hugging, or hearing you feel most supportive?”

The three “Hs”.

Recently, we’ve added a fourth “H” – Halo Top ice cream.

• Thriving romantic partners are creative about how they structure their life together – Marriage and family therapist Stephanie Yates-Anyabwile says that they throw out the relationship rule book.

So, for instance, if two people have very different traveling styles and habits, is it really necessary that their recreational travel be done together?

If they have very different sleeping habits, is sleeping under the same roof, just fine, even if they don’t always sleep in the same bed?

Several years after my stepdad, Ty died, my mom met Paul, who has become a wonderful and loving companion with her.

They decided not to move in together. They spend part of each week at her home and part at his, sometime even apart as their lives demand.

And they love it, and they love each other. Throw out the rule book and get creative!

• Here’s one more thing. Psychologist and relationship researcher John Gottman has found that relationships flourish when we pay attention to what he calls “emotional bids.”

Bids are “Fundamental units of emotional communication’ when we reach out to a partner with a request to connect. They can be big or small, verbal or nonverbal. We can be aware that we are making them or completely unaware.

An example of such a bid for connection might be if an avid birdwatcher, excitedly says to her husband, “Wow, I was just out watering the plants, and the most beautiful hummingbird I have ever seen flew right up to me and just hovered there staring at me!”

Now, her husband may not have much interest in birding himself, but if he recognizes this bid for connection and turns towards it by saying something like, “Really, honey, that’s amazing, what did it look like?”, he enhances their sense of connection.

However, if he turns away – “That’s great, honey, I need to finish this report for work” or turns against – “Why do you always interrupt me when I’m trying to work from home”, the connection is thwarted and the relationship may be damaged.

Successful romantic partners make these bids often, learn to recognize each others bids, and turn toward them the vast majority of the time.

And that requires us to risk vulnerability with each other.

One way Wayne used to make such a bid was to join me if I was on the couch watching TV or in bed reading and lay his head on my shoulder or upper arm.

I came to realize that this often meant he needed to talk about something that was difficult for him, so I learned to say something like, “It’s OK. Tell me.”

And he would.

And so we learn to turn toward each other. And so love goes. And so love grows.

Well, these are just a few examples I have found out there in the “literature on love”.

And it occurs to me that these practices that lead to flourishing eros love, are really spiritual practices that could also aide us in love for our friends and family, as well as that divine, pure, unselfish, and unconditional love for all called Agape love.

Supporting others in coming fully alive.

Equity.

Open communication, creative disagreement, valuing our differences. Joy, fun, and playfulness.

Hug. Hear. Help. Halo Top.

Getting creative about the ways we are in relationship. Making and turning toward bids for connection. Mutual flourishing as the goal.

All of these, it seems to me, are spiritual disciplines that can move us toward greater love in our lives AND living out our core Unitarian Universalist value – that Agape love.

Maybe Eros love is just how soulmates help each other practice Agape love.

Happy Valentines, my Beloveds!

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

Our benediction today is from words by writer and civil rights activist, James Baldwin:

The longer I live, the more deeply I learn that love-whether we call it friendship or family or romance- is the work of mirroring and magnifying each other’s light. Gentle work. Steadfast work. Life-saving work in those moments when life and shame and sorrow occlude our own light from our view but there is still a clear-eyed loving person to beam it back. In our best moments, we are that person for another.

May the congregation say, “Amen”, and “Blessed Be.” Go in peace.

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 25 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link above to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.

PODCASTS

Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the podcast link above or copying and pasting this link. https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/first-unitarian-universalist/id372427776

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Chris Jimmerson
February 9, 2025
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught inclusion so rooted in love that it would become liberatory for all. Perhaps reclaiming the collective love and liberation that is at the heart of our UU Christian heritage is how we best counter an ideology of exclusion that has arisen in our state and our country.

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

It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.

– Audrey Lorde

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

A BLESSING CALLED SANCTUARY
by Jan Richardson

You hardly knew
how hungry you were to be gathered in,
to receive the welcome that invited you to enter entirely
nothing of you found foreign or strange,
nothing of your life that you were asked
to leave behind or to carry in silence or in shame.

Tentative steps became settling in,
leaning into the blessing
that enfolded you, taking your place in the circle that stunned you
with its unimagined grace.

You began to breathe again,
to move without fear, to speak with abandon
the words you carried in your bones, that echoed in your being.
You learned to sing.

But the deal with this blessing is that it will not leave you alone,
will not let you linger in safety, in stasis.

The time will come when this blessing
will ask you to leave,
not because it has tired of you,
but because it desires for you to become the sanctuary that you have found-
to speak your word into the world, to tell what you have heard
with your own ears, seen with your own eyes, known in your own heart:

Sermon

• • Blessed are we when we seek spiritual truths; questions more profound than answers; revelation that is continuous rather than stagnate; mystery over certitude; a sense of our vast and sacred interconnectedness, eschewing the false and shallow reassurances of privilege through the exclusion of difference; the false idol of power through division.

• • Blessed are we when we love beyond our own group – that which is familiar. For though the cost of such boundless love is greater loss, even as we mourn such greater loss, we know a love that sustains and comforts even against injustice, despair, even against death.

• • Blessed are we when we are humble; when we embrace and share our vulnerabilities. This is how we find the courage to truly know others; we live wholeheartedly; we sense our place in the great web of all existence.

• Blessed are we when we hunger and thirst for justice, not just for ourselves and our closest kindred, but for all. For this is how we know the fullness of love and the flourishing of our own spirits. It is how we become tributaries of the divine river of love that flows through our universe and washes away the sorrow of our world.

These are the waters that carry us toward liberation for us all. 

• • Blessed are we when we show mercy with no expectation of reward or return, for this is how we seed showers of compassion and empathy for one another and for all.

• • Blessed are we when we allow that divine river of love to flow through and occupy our hearts because this is how we experience the divine within ourselves.

• • Blessed are we when we work for peace, as peace for all is the only way through which each of us will know peace.

• Blessed are we when we risk persecution by the forces of division and exclusion, oppression and injustice, because the Beloved Community we build together is more than worth such risk.

Because we shall overcome. 

We must shine the light of justice out into our world and among all beings, allow the love that is God and the God that is love to find physical expression through us.

The words I just spoke are a modernization of “The Beatitudes” from the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5 though 7 in the New Testament of the Christian Bible.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus delivers a message of love, compassion, and selflessness. He encourages us to love our enemies, to forgive others. He urges care and justice for the poor and marginalized.

Jesus delivers a message of inclusion and a warning against exclusion and division.

The kind of exclusion and division we are witnessing in the halls of government in Washington, DC and the capitol building right here in Austin, TX.

At the federal level, we are seeing the implementation of Project 2025, a white, Christian Nationalist manifesto and plan created by the extremist right wing organization called the Heritage Foundation – a plan that aims to entirely restructure the levers and systems of our federal government to vest immense power in a cadre of ultra-wealthy, mostly white, mostly cis-gendered heterosexual males who call themselves Christians or at least stake claim to what they falsely call Christian tenets.

They are bent on exclusion – making women second class citizens once more, erasing the rights and existence of LGBTQ+ folks, particularly our trans siblings, destroying all of the rights and protections that had been put in place to try to break apart systems of white supremacy and racism embedded within governmental and societal institutions.

Make no mistake, in our current societal political context, “Make America Great Again”, means take America back to an era when BIPOC folks, LTBTQ folks, women, non-Christians, and so many more suffered even greater inequity, exclusions and oppression than now.

And even though we have yet to see true equity in America, even the gains that have been made are too much, too inclusive, too threatening to an ideology of white supremacy culture, hetero-cis-patriarchy, radical-capitalistic, caste-structured, fundamentalist Christian nationalism.

All in the name of Jesus, praise God!

I don’t need to go through the havoc they have been reeking upon our governmental systems intended to help and protect people, particularly those now targeted for exclusion – the mechanisms being put into place to concentrate wealth and power within a small plutocracy and its enablers, the only folks intended for inclusion.

You all have been watching, and I refuse to add to sense of overwhelm being intentionally created.

I know so many of you are doing what you can think of to try to stop the assault.

Here is something more I think we might do if we are to overcome though. What if we reclaim Jesus’ message of love, justice and inclusion that has so effectively been co-opted?

We embrace the true message of Christianity, out of which, after all, our own Unitarian and Universalist faiths arose – redefine its images and language for ourselves, knowing that we do not have to believe in superstition and irrationality to do so.

We have get over allergies to God and Christian language so many of us carry, often because of having been hurt by the misuse and desecration of that religion and its language in our pasts. Me included.

We have to be able to counter forces that are redefining the Beatitudes for themselves like this:

• Blessed are we who know with certitude that God favors us.
• Blessed is our own small circle of rich white dudes.
• Blessed is our hubris.
• Blessed is false righteousness at the expense of justice – that calls mercy the folly of fools.
• Blessed are we who exclude from our hearts others who are different, even if we must use force, war, genocide and persecution to do so.

These are not the words and teachings of Jesus, and we have to be able to stand in the public square and say so. 

Because right now, right now, this is the ground upon which the struggle for the soul of America is being fought.

Now, I know that I am using strong language today, both to embrace the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount and to forthrightly condemn the ideology and actions of a government that defiles those teachings.

I am using strong language because the stakes are that high – the soul of America and by extension much of the rest of our world is at stake.

Now I am not saying we have to embrace a particular theology, accept a creed, or give up a perspective based in humanism, naturalism, science or other theology or philosophy.

I am simply suggesting that we need that comfort level with the language and concepts of Christianity, adapted to our own perspectives, so they we do not exclude folks who otherwise share our values and could be allies.

So that Christianity, our heritage, cannot be co-opted by an ideology that is in direct opposition to our values of love and inclusion, and, in fact the values that Jesus himself spoke.

I wonder how it might be if we were to testify at the state legislature and say something like,

“this bill will cause great harm to trans folks and those who love them, but Jesus said that we are to keep love in our hearts and show mercy to all
– Matthew 5, verses 7 and 8.”

What if we were to call our Senators and say, 

“Elon Musk was not elected by anyone and you have to stop what he is doing because he’s lying about why he is doing it.
Matthew 6: 15, “Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”

OK, I am being a bit angry flippant now, but I do think learning to be more open to the same values we embrace being expressed through other religious perspectives can help us be more inclusive, again including in the public square where we need lots more of those allies I mentioned. 

We can turn our anger and rage at what Elon Musk and others are doing doing, not at any person, but at how we can respond in ways that refocus us and help us work with others toward healing, love, justice.

And we can begin right here, in our own religious community.

Are we inclusive enough that people with a wide variety of progressive religious perspectives feel welcomed here?

It starts with us. It starts here.

To express how what we do in our organizations can radiate out into our larger world, adrienne marie brown, in their book, Emergent Strategy; Shaping Change, Changing Worlds, uses fractals, patterns in nature that repeat at differing scales – think of ferns that stay much the same from tiny to large or the spiral patterns we see all the way from the prints of our fingertips to shapes of galaxies in our universe.

Brown writes,

“A fractal is a never-ending pattern. Fractals are infinitely complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales. They are created by repeating a simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop. How we are at the small scale is how we are at the large scale

Brown continues, 

“The patterns of the universe repeat at scale. There is a structural echo that suggests two things:

• one, that there are shapes and patterns fundamental to our universe,
• and two, that what we practice at a small scale can reverberate to the largest scale.”

What we do here at this church and then carry beyond these walls reverberates on the larger scale. 

It starts with us.

If we build a community of inclusive, love and justice, the church we create reverberates into the state, nation and world we hope to create.

The Church-For-All models for us a society for all.

May we bless the soul of America with our modern Beatitudes:

• a sense of our vast and sacred interconnectedness,
• a boundless love that sustains and comforts
• the courage required for humbleness and vulnerability
• a hunger and thirst for justice and a commitment to mercy, compassion and empathy.
• hearts so large the divine river of love floods through them, washing away persecution, oppression, and injustice.

In the words of our poet earlier, beatitudes that become the genesis of a soul of America that says to each and everyone, “You are beloved, a precious child of God, beautiful to behold, and you are welcome and more than welcome here.” 

Amen.

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

MARGINAL WISDOM (adapted)
by Leslie Takahashi

They teach us to read in black and white.
Truth is this-the rest false.
You are whole-or broken.
Who you love is acceptable-or not.

Life tells its truth in many hues … embraces multiple truths,
speaks of both, and ….

We are taught to see in absolutes.
Good versus evil.
Male versus female,
Old versus young,
Gay versus straight.

Let us see the fractions, the spectrum, the margins.
Let us open our hearts to the complexity of our worlds.
Let us make our lives sanctuaries, to nurture our many identities.

The day is coming when all will know

That the rainbow world is more gorgeous than monochrome,
That a river of identities can ebb and flow over the static,
stubborn rocks in its course,

That the margins hold the center

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 25 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link above to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.

PODCASTS

Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the podcast link above or copying and pasting this link. https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/first-unitarian-universalist/id372427776

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Chris Jimmerson
February 2, 2025
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

Join us for an all-ages service to bless the beloved animal companions in your lives. All friendly, well-behaved creatures, young, old, great and small, furry and scaly, are invited to this cherished annual tradition. In these challenging times, let us honor our animal companions, who are such a vital source of our joy and resilience.

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

DOGSOLOGY
Rev. LoraKim Joyner

From all that dwell below the skies
Let songs of hope and faith arise
Let peace, goodwill on earth be sung
Or barked or howled by every tongue!

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

JOB 12, 7-10

Ask the animals and they will teach you. Or the birds in the sky and they will tell you. Or speak to the Earth and it will teach you. Or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know the breath of the divine has done this. In whose care is the life of every creature and the breath of all humankind.

Sermon

Well, it’s been a challenging couple of weeks, hasn’t it?

How many of us are feeling a little overwhelmed by all of the meanness, incompetence, pettiness, and authoritarianism emanating from our federal government? Raise you hand if you are comfortable doing so. I think I even saw a few paws go up.

How many of us are wondering how in the world we are going to find the resilience, non-anxious presence, not to mention joy and comfort, to make it through the next few months and years?

The cats are like, “yeah, yeah, just don’t forget to feed me.” Now, look around at the beings gathered here for worship today. When we think about the community of love and support we will need to weather the hard times, sometimes we don’t remember to turn to our animal companions.

And yet, they can be such sources of love, joy and support.

I was so moved by Sol’s description of how their Kittan is “a living reminder of love, a promise that no one is ever fully lost.”

All of my current animal companions, all Basenji dogs, are named after well-known Unitarian Universalist ancestors.

Slide

Meet Louisa May Alcott and Benjamin Franklin.

Last year, after my spouse, Wayne, went on hospice care, I can tell you that Ben and Louisa somehow absolutely knew what was happening, or at least that something difficult for us was happening. And they were such a comfort to us.

They were glued to one of our sides almost constantly, except, when, you know, occasionally a squirrel needed running off or something, they are dogs after all – they read the situation and were so loving and affectionate and cuddly.

During the day when I had to be gone, they took care of Wayne for me.

In fact, near the end, when Wayne got really sick and was pretty much confined to one room, I had to put in a gate to keep them out and bring them for supervised visits because they tried to be a little too “cuddly” after he became too fragile for them to do so.

Years, prior, when it had come time to let our older dog, Virgil, go, the hospice vet that came to our house told us it was important for us to let Ben and Louisa be present as Virgil’s life ended.

She said that they would be upset and confused if Virgil just disappeared without them ever knowing why, and that they would know what had happened if they witnessed Virgil’s death. And so we did let them be there, and they did know.

Because of that, Wayne had told me that he wanted me to bring them in after he died, so they would know. And the morning that it happened, I did. And they did know.

Back when Wayne had still been mobile enough to move around the house, I had trained them so that I could say, “Where’s the Wayne?”, and they would go running off to find him and check on him for me.

A few days after Wayne died, and I was still in overwhelming grief, I suddenly found myself crying out, “Where’s Wayne?” They didn’t run off to try to find him.

Louisa came over and sat beside me, laid her head on my shoulder, and looked up at me. Ben came and laid against my leg. They knew, and they helped me through, and they wanted me to help them through.

Slide

And this is the newest member of our pack, Ralph Waldo Emerson, who I am convinced Wayne arranged for him coming into our lives, but that’s a longer story.

Ralph has come in and decided the rest of us all need more fun, joy and play in our lives, whether we like it or not!

And, you know, I joked about cats earlier, but as Sol’s story illustrated, they too are incredibly aware of our needs and will bring us comfort, even if they do it in a different way than dogs do.

So, my beloveds, as we face the challenges ahead, remember and respect our animal companions.

They can bring us such great comfort and joy, no matter their species – fur, feathers, scales, shells or otherwise!

If you for whatever reason do not have animal companions in your life, you can still enjoy them vicariously though other’s people’s pets or the millions and millions of online videos you can find.

And even our animal friends who have left us to go over the rainbow bridge are always still in our hearts.

Our Basenji Dog, Virgil, who I mentioned earlier was so regal and imperious that we called him, “Sir Virgil”.

And I plan to bring some of that Vigil attitude with me as I confront the forces of division and harm at our state capital in the days to come.

Bless the animals my Beloveds and accept the ways in which they bless us.

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

BENEDICTION FOR A PET BLESSING:
SOME WISDOM FROM OUR CAT AND DOG FRIENDS
by Rev. Chris Jimmerson

Show exuberant joy when you first see your loved ones after being apart.
Delight in simple joys.
Play a lot.
Except in the most dire of situations, retract your claws (unless it is all in good, playful fun).
Knock something off the shelf every once in a while, it’s fun
AND it can open up new possibilities.
Never try to persuade humans to be reasonable.
Purr loudly or wag your whole body when you’re happy.
Sometimes a good howl or some hissing can help a lot, just avoid biting, which can get you in lots of trouble.
Nap just for the pleasure of it.
Comfort others: accept comfort when you are able.
Love freely, but never lose yourself in doing so.

May the congregation say, Amen and Blessed Be.

Go in peace.

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 25 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link above to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.

PODCASTS

Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the podcast link above or copying and pasting this link. https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/first-unitarian-universalist/id372427776

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Chris Jimmerson
January 19, 2025
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously laid out a dream of justice and Beloved Community. January 20 will be both MLK Day and inauguration day. We’ll examine how we might develop the spiritual resilience to keep the dream alive through a time when it seems so threatened.

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

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

– Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE
by Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

And I say to you, I have also decided to stick with love, for I know that love is ultimately the only answer to humankind’s problems. And I’m going to talk about it everywhere I go. I know it isn’t popular to talk about in some circles today and I’m not talking about emotional bosh when I talk about love.

I’m talking about a strong demanding love for I’ve seen too much hate and I say to myself that hate is too great a burden to bear. I have decided to love. If you are seeking the highest good, I think you can find it through love.

And the beautiful thing is that we aren’t moving wrong when we do it. Because John was right. God is love. He who hates does not know God, but he who loves has the key that unlocks the door to the meaning of ultimate reality.

Sermon

NOTE: This is an edited ai generated transcript.
Please forgive any omissions or errors.

(Opening film-clip of 1963 MLK’s March on Washington)

That was footage from the 1963 march on Washington. The marchers were singing a spiritual which has become iconic. “We shall overcome,” sung throughout the world for years since by human rights movements of many kinds. The march culminated with Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s now also more than iconic speech. “I have a dream,” he called it, a speech. I have to tell you that if I ever give a sermon that magnificent, I think I’ll just retire while ahead right then.

Tomorrow is Martin Luther King Day. It is Also the inauguration to a second term of office for a man and an ideology so hostile to and threatening toward Dr. King’s dream of beloved community, that it has many of us holding our heads like this for fear that the dissonance will otherwise cause them to explode. Go ahead, try it. I find it helps.

I know a lot of you are afraid because you’ve told me that. I am too. Afraid for our democracy and whether it will withstand the coming assault. Afraid for the people we love who are being targeted by the onslaught. Some of us are afraid because we’re among those who have already been singled out for the assault. We don’t know what will happen starting tomorrow. We do know that the incoming president, his supporters, and proposed administration are promising what they themselves call a shock and awe campaign. A campaign designed to keep us frightened and feeling powerless.

So today I want to talk a bit about how we might soothe our fears, Claim our power, and resist even turn the assault against the very ideology of separation, division, and scapegoating from which it springs. And that power, our power, is contained in the very words that Dr. King himself spoke,

“Unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality, a strong, demanding love, the key that unlocks the door to the meaning of ultimate reality.”

As Unitarian Universalists, we have recently centered our faith in that strong demanding love, perhaps starting to catch up with Dr. King after all these years.

Ten years ago, in 2015, I stood in this pulpit on the Sunday before Martin Luther King Day and told the story of how in March 1965, over 500 Unitarian Universalists lay people and 250 of our ministers responded to a call from Dr. King nationally for people of faith to join him in a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

The call was in response to what is now sometimes called “Bloody Sunday,” when law enforcement in Selma had brutally attacked peaceful protesters with billy clubs and tear gas. I want to share with you a couple of those Unitarian Universalist folks’ stories today because it’s been long enough that many of you may not have heard them and because I believe that they can inform us of the challenges or about the challenges we face ahead of us.

Reverend Dr. James Reeb was among the first of our ministers to arrive in Selma. His first evening there, Reeb and two other white Unitarian Universalist ministers dined at an African-American restaurant called Walker’s Cafe because they had been told they wouldn’t be safe at a whites-only restaurant.

But as they left Walker’s Cafe, they were attacked by a group of four or five white locals, at least one of whom was carrying a large club of some kind. He struck James Reeb on the head with it, knocking him to the ground. They beat and kicked the other two ministers to the ground also. Soon afterward, James Reeb fell into an unconscious state from which he never awoke. Two days later, Marie Reeb, his wife, made the painful and difficult decision to turn off the artificial support that was the only thing that was keeping his body alive.

Reeb became a national martyr. He was even paid homage to by then president Lyndon B. Johnson and his murder galvanized white Americans, and particularly Unitarian Universalists, to join the effort in Selma even more.

One such Unitarian Universalists who joined the effort and who also did not come back from Selma alive was Viola Luizzo, but she wasn’t lionied in the way that James Reeve was. For many years, her story was rarely, if ever, told because (A) she was a woman. And (B) she was a woman and not a minister. At a time, not a minister because (A) she was a woman. Viola Luizzo was a member of First Unitarian Universalist Church of Detroit and worked for the NAACP. She was married, had five children. She answered the call to Selma by getting in her car and driving there despite the objections of her family.

She helped out by giving marchers a ride back to Selma from Montgomery after the march. On one of her return trips, a car full of KKK men pulled up beside her and fired shots directly at her, hitting her twice in the head, killing her instantly. Her car careened into a ditch and came to a stop when it struck a fence. After her death, one of her sons described his father’s dark hair turning gray overnight. Her family endured crosses being burnt in their front yard. Her children were beat up at school. They were told their mother deserved what she got because as a white woman, she had no business being there in the first place.

I tell you these stories because I believe that like Viola Luizzo and James Reeb were in their time, we are being called to live our faith even if the cost may be high. And if they could show up despite the environment and risk of their times, despite paying the ultimate price for it, we can answer that call in our times.

We are being called by a divine, strong and demanding river of love that moves us to offer shelter, support, and safe haven to those most targeted by the coming assault against human rights and dignity. Called to speak love and justice to a state government that threatens to defile the very concept of beloved community. Called by a strong demanding river of divine love to resist, revolt against and ultimately repel the ideology of hate and division that has captured our federal government. Called back to love and justice over and over again until the end. We shall indeed overcome.

Back in 2015, I joined some Unitarian Universalists and other folks from across the country in Selma for the 50th anniversary commemoration of those events back in 1965. At one point while we were there, they gathered us in a large fellowship hall and we sang, “We shall overcome” together. And there was so much love and hope and solidarity generated through singing that together that I don’t think a single one of us left that fellowship hall afterwards with eyes that were dry.

Now there are several different stories of the origins of that song, but ultimately they all conclude with what a gift the African-American community has given the world through it. Or better yet, perhaps a loan. A loan with a promissory note that we will join in solidarity to overcome racism and bigotry wherever we find it.

Let us remember that when we sing it together today, later in our service. And speaking of together, we can in the days to come, further develop and talk about the specifics of our social justice efforts as we face this daunting challenge. For now though, before we can answer that call from love in the public square, we are going to need one another right here in the days to come.

We will need to build the beloved community within these church walls more than ever before so that we can then bring even more of it into our world, join in solidarity with others and follow the lead of those most affected by that ideology of division so counter to Dr. King’s dream of beloved community and that means being careful that we don’t turn our fears and anxieties toward one another. Through unnecessary fighting or unkind words and deeds It means loving each other through this. Being even more attentive to offering words and acts of caring, kindness, and support to one another.

Please include your church staff and ministers in all of the above.

And it means getting more creative than ever about finding new ways to offer love, support, and a shelter of as much safety as possible for beloveds who are being targeted.

My beautiful people, do not despair, I love you. We will get through this together, and with the many others with whom we’ll join in solidarity to answer that call from such a strong and demanding love. When we think back to all that has changed since Viola Luizzo and James Reeve answered that call and met their fate all those years ago, we must know that the arc of the universe we are trying to bend toward justice has never really been a smooth and perfect arc. At Yes, it is a jagged and only slowly climbing line, and we dream. We dream of drawing the arc that goes through the center of it. My beloveds, We can keep that dream alive. Hold on to it. Hold on to it together in the ways of love tomorrow and in the days to follow.

I will be with you answering that call from a strong demanding love that Dr. King said is God. I want to close by offering you some of Dr. King’s word about that dream of his all those years ago spoken by Dr. King himself. A bit of it is laced with the male-centeredness of his time, so let us remember the arc we are upon has that jagged trajectory. I offer his voice with his text overlaid so that you can both hear and see their great beauty at the same time. I offer his dreams and his words as the last word today.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friend, So, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.

It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.

I have a dream that one day on the Red Hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day, even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama with its vicious racist, With its governor, having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification. One day, right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope.

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

– Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Power without love is reckless and abusive. And love without power is sentimental and anemic, power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.

May the congregations say amen and blessed be.

Go in peace.

---

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 25 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link above to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.

PODCASTS

Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the podcast link above or copying and pasting this link. https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/first-unitarian-universalist/id372427776

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Chris Jimmerson
January 12, 2025
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

As humans, we make sense of our world by creating stories. Essentially, both as individuals and as groups, we construct ourselves through constructing narratives about ourselves. And those stories not only determine how we feel about ourselves and our world, but they also drive who we are, what we do, and who we are becoming. In effect, they are self-perpetuating. But what if the story we are telling ourselves is harmful and untrue? Can we rewrite or at least reinterpret it in order to create a more life-fulfilling, whole-hearted narrative?

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

EVERYTHING THAT WAS BROKEN
by Mary Oliver Everything that was broken
has forgotten its brokenness. I live
now in a sky-house, through every
window, the sun. Also your presence.
Our touching, our stories. Earthy
and holy both. How can this be, but
it is. Every day has something in
it whose name is forever.

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

HOW INVISIBLE STORIES HOLD YOU BACK
by Ozan Virol

We all have stories that we live by that aren’t fixed truths. They’re just old scripts we’ve been following without realizing it. If you tell yourself travel is exhausting, you’ll only notice the hassles, the delayed flights, the cramped seats, and you’ll miss the little joys along the way. If you tell yourself you’re awkward in social settings, you’ll tense up before conversations even begin, missing moments that could have been easy and fun.

The point isn’t to force yourself to love every rainy day or magically turn into an extrovert. It’s about creating space. Space to question the stories you’ve been living by and experiment with something new. You’re not committing to anything forever, you’re just saying, “What if?” When you play with the stories you’ve been telling yourself, you realize they’re just that. They’re stories. And if you don’t like the story, you can change the story.

Sermon

NOTE: This is an edited ai generated transcript.
Please forgive any omissions or errors.

There’s at least one story you tell yourself about yourself that isn’t helpful. May even be harmful and probably isn’t even true.” At least if you’re like the vast majority of folks, that’s the case, that’s how the story goes.

• What title would you give your not helpful, maybe even harmful, probably fictional story?
• If you could change or reinterpret the story, what would you like the new title to be?

I’ll let you ponder all that as we explore the power that the stories we tell ourselves have over our lives, our emotions, behaviors, even our futures.

A field called narrative psychology has found that we humans make meaning of our lives and our world. In essence, we construct ourselves, our very personalities and our perspectives on the world through creating these narratives. And what’s fascinating is that we construct these self-stories with the structure of a novel. We give them chapters, birth, school, first love, et cetera. And we give them a beginning, middle, and end. This helps explain their power to affect not only our present, but also our future. If we’re always trying to give our stories an end even while we’re still in the middle of them, we’re likely to work toward an end that fits with the current story, even if that story is inaccurate, limiting, or harmful.

And the research has shown that our stories even affect the very neurochemistry of our brains. So if, for instance, I read about someone kicking a soccer ball. I don’t just create an image of that in my mind. It actually activates the motor cortex area of my brain as if I were actually kicking the soccer ball myself. The same is true for stories we tell ourselves involving our emotions, values, self-worth, capacity in life and on and on and on. Our stories are actually molding our brains to fit the very stories our brains are telling us. That’s why they can be so hard to change sometimes. So in a way we live as stories. They have this huge power in our lives.

Even religion and spiritual practices are filled with ways of creating narrative metaphor that allows us to explore ultimate understandings that are sometimes inaccessible through everyday language and the current limits of scientific inquiry.

Here is how one narrative psychologist puts it. Our lives and their pathways are not fixed in stone. Instead, they’re shaped by story. The ways in which we understand and share the stories of our lives therefore make all the difference. If we tell stories that emphasize only desolation, then we become weaker. If we tell our stories in ways that make us stronger, we can soothe our losses and ease our sorrows.

Learning how to re-envision the stories we tell ourselves can make an enormous difference in the way that we live our lives. And I would submit that this is not just psychological, it is also what spirituality is all about.

As I mentioned earlier in the service I’ll share how this has played out very powerfully in my life recently. Again what I share may be may bring up difficult circumstances and feelings. Tony and I are available after the service should you need to process something.

I’ve written the story out in case I need the words to hang onto emotionally while I tell it. Many of you know that my spouse of over 30 years, Wayne, died last year after an extended period of time on home hospice. In his final days, Wayne’s disease process resulted in some cognitive decline, he would get confused. And out of that confusion, the panic attacks that had plagued him when he was much younger, but that he had worked to resolve, began to come back sometimes. I ended up needing to manage his medical and hospice appointments, as well as his pain and other necessary medication, of which there were many on a large variety of different schedules, I would sit with him through the panic until it subsided.

Eventually his disease progressed to where he weakened and began to fall a lot. He was no longer strong enough to make it to the bathroom or to shower by himself So I had to learn to lift them without injuring myself. I would help them with these basic necessities of life. And though we brought in some home care help so that I could continue to perform a few church function and take care of household needs like getting groceries, most afternoons and evenings they would leave as soon as I returned. and it would be just the two of us and our pups for the rest of the day and evening. I’d set alarms each night so that I could get up and give him his medications on schedule and put on his mask for the breathing treatment that opened his airways and helped him to respirate more easily.

Eventually, Wayne declined to the point where he began to think about going into an institutional hospice setting called Christopher House, where he would receive the trained nursing care I couldn’t provide and which couldn’t be provided around the clock through home hospice.

We set up an appointment with this hospice doctor for Tuesday, September 3 to discuss that On the Friday before that, while I was making a run to the grocery store, he had a bad fall and couldn’t get back up. I returned to find him that way. I got him back into bed and called for help from the hospice nurses who came right away. They helped me clean up everything where he had fallen and they bandaged the wounds that I didn’t have the knowledge to know how to tend. They told us though that there might be internal bleeding.

Wayne opted to continue only pain management and palliative care. Soon though, He discovered he was no longer able to swallow anything solid, so another hospice nurse came over and showed me how to grind up his medications, dissolve them in water, and then give them to him slowly by flowing the medicated water into his mouth from a syringe. She also had me increase his pain medication and his treatments for anxiety and panic attacks. The nurses offered to go ahead and move him to Christopher House, but Wayne panicked at the idea of not having me and his pups, and so he never went.

The rest of that weekend is still kind of a blur in my memory. I remember having to pick him up and carry him several times. I remember getting up throughout the night to dissolve the medications and administer them to him and give him his breathing treatments. I remember home care workers coming a couple of times so I could take care of some duties here at the church or some household needs and wondering whether I should leave it all, even though they were there. I can remember bringing him the phone several times because he wanted to talk to the hospice folks himself about his own care needs. That Sunday evening he had another panic attack and they increased his meds even more. I remember getting up throughout the night in the early morning hours to check on him and give him his meds.

Early Labor Day morning, Monday, September 2, I got up and put on the mask to start his breathing treatment and went upstairs to make a cup of coffee. When I came back to check on the breathing treatment, he had died.

At first, the story I told myself about those final days was one of difficulty and trauma and self-doubt. I wasn’t trained to provide that level and kind of care, I told myself. Should I have been more insistent that he go to Christopher house, did not going, mean he went through more pain or discomfort. Should I have stayed with him, even when home care was there? The moments of administering his drugs with that syringe or lifting him to go to the bathroom played over and over through my mind as a story of trauma, caught in that story of trauma at first there was no way I could process my grief.

With time and work though, a lot of therapy, help from some wonderful, wonderful professionals and friends, the God of my understanding. I was eventually able to recast the story to one that I think is not only more healthy, I think it is more true.

Here’s how I understand our story of those times now. What a blessing that it was me who picked him up when he fell or needed to go to the restroom that I was the last one who held him that way, that I was the one who loved him through the moments of panic and fear. What a holy act I got to engage in with him, giving him his medications through the syringe, that most intimate of acts of holding it to his lips. It was me who came back to check on his breathing treatment only to discover that he no longer needed it because he had drawn his last breath. I didn’t get a phone call telling me he was gone. I was there for that hallowed moment, and I am so grateful. Wayne didn’t want to die at Christopher House. He wanted to die in the house that he shared with Christopher, and he did.

And so the story has moved from one of trauma and doubt to a story about sacred love that endures all and that is with me always and everywhere. My beloveds, we can rewrite, recast, reinterpret our self-stories.

Now, I wanted to share some tips from narrative psychology about how we might go about doing all that, but my sermon got so long that I had to give you those handouts that you have on the pews.

To summarize very briefly, though, when reviewing yourself’s story, unlike I just did, Get on with it. Be willing to question it and test it with others. Journal about it. See if you can recast it as a story of ongoing redemption. Seeking counseling and treatment when the story is just too strong and won’t let go is more than okay.

I’ll close with inviting you two during the postlude or after the service. Right down on the index cards, we’ve given you the answers to the two questions with which we began. What title would you give an unhelpful, maybe even harmful, probably fictional self-story? If you could change or reinterpret that self -story, what would you like the new title to be? Then I encourage you to spend some time in the days to come on how you might rewrite the story from one of trauma to one that is holy. Or at least from drama to something wholly more heart-centered and life-fulfilling. Rewrite it, then – Go tell it on the mountain.

Amen.

CHANGING OUR STORY HANDOUT

• Ask, is it true? Is it the whole truth or only part of it? Is it a story that helps you live a fulfilled life or does it hold you back? Might it even be harmful?
• What is your emotional state? For instance, depression can strongly influence the stories we tell ourselves, most often turning them toward the negative and self-criticizing. This of course, can further deepen the depression! Studies have found Un!: simply asking ourselves, “is this the depression talking”, can help us halt our negative stories. Therapies for the depression or other negative emotions can help also. Treatments such as ketamine, may help us ‘rewire” our brains with more affirming stories.
• Daily Journaling as a practice can help us uncover self-stories about which we may not have been fully aware. Then, writing down, journaling a story we think is more accurate and/or more helpful can help us activate it within the neurobiology of our minds.
• Rewrite it as story of Redemption. Research has shown that folks who call formulate their stories in ways that are redemptive tend to lead more generative, self-fulfilled lives – for instance, someone who was bullied as child and comes to view the story as about how they learned to set boundaries and protect themselves.
• Cast the self-negative aspects as the villains of the story. The person who was told they were clumsy and unathletic as a child might cast the “clumsy and unathletic” label as the “Clumsy Monster” – “I am going to capture the Clumsy Monster and make it go to the gym with me, where I’ll show that monster exactly what I’m made of!”
• Venting isn’t helpful. Studies have shown that venting about our story with a friend or loved one may actually amp up our nervous system, which in turn may only “further neurologically harden whatever story we are telling ourselves. Asking our loved one to help us process our story instead may be more helpful. Processing involves, rather than retelling the content of our story over and over again (venting), expressing our feelings and judgments about it. Processing also means asking others to help us question our assumptions about our stories.
• Test self-stories only with those whom you know you can trust. This is tricky because it means we need loved ones who we can trust to both be honest and have our best interests at heart. They cannot be invested in our continuing a self-story in some way themselves. With such folks and/or professionals though, testing the accuracy of the stories we are telling ourselves by seeking another perspective can be very helpful and powerful.

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

Fairytales are true not because they tell us monsters exist, But because they tell us monsters can be vanquished.
Amen.

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 25 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link above to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.

PODCASTS

Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the podcast link above or copying and pasting this link. https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/first-unitarian-universalist/id372427776

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Chris Jimmerson
October 20, 2024
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

Author, theologian, and Minister David Augsburger writes, “Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person, they are almost indistinguishable.” Feeling truly heard can be such a blessing. Might it also be true that truly hearing is a sacred act that will nourish our own soul?

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

When you listen so completely to another, you are also listening to yourself, listening to your own problems, to your own uncertainties, to your own misery, confusion, desire for security … We are talking together about what human beings are, which is you.

– J. Krishnamurti
(a philosopher, speaker, writer, and spiritual figure from India.)

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

LISTENING WITH THE HEART
by Gary Kowalski
(a white, retired UU Minister and author of numerous books on animals, spirituality, history and the environment.)

Maybe prayer doesn’t mean talking to God at all.
Maybe it means just listening.
Unplugging the TV, turning off the computer,
Quieting the mental chatter and distractions.

Maybe it means listening to the birds
And the insects, the wind in the leaves,
the creaking and groaning of the trees, noticing
Who else is out there, not far away but nearby;

Sitting so still we can hear our heartbeat,
Watch our breath, the gentle whoosh of air,
The funny noises from our own insides,
Marveling at the body we take so much for granted.

Maybe it means listening to our dreams,
Paying more attention to what we really want from life,
And less attention to all the nagging, scolding voices from our past.

Or maybe it’s all about listening to each other,
Not thinking ahead to how we can answer or rebut or parry or advise or admonish,
But actually being present to each other.

Perhaps if we just sit quietly we’ll overhear a peace whispering through the centuries
That’s missing from the clamor of the moment.

Maybe prayer means listening to the silences between the words,
Noticing the negativity of space,
The vast, undifferentiated and nameless wonder
That underlies it all.

Maybe prayer doesn’t mean talking to God at all,
But listening with the heart,
To the angel choirs all around us.

Those who have ears,
Let them hear.

Sermon

“Sainthood emerges when you can listen to someone’s tale of woe and not respond with a description of your own.” So says author, Dr. Andrew V. Mason.

And yet, listen to these statistics that indicate our sainthood may be a ways away from emerging yet:

• 75% of the time, we are distracted or preoccupied rather than truly listening,
• After listening to someone talk, we can immediately recall only about 50% of what they said. Even less if we didn’t like the subject or the person! One hour later, we remember less than 20%,
• It takes less than 7 seconds for you to decide if you trust someone or not. If not, our primitive brain then filters out whatever else they say,
• Less than 2% of the population has had formal education on how to listen,
• We listen at 125-250 words per minute, but think at 1000- 3000 words per minute,
• Most people are uncomfortable with silence and can only make it less than 10 seconds before having to ask a question or say something to break the silence.

And yet, 85% of what we learn is through listening, not talking or even reading.

Further, one in five Americans reports feeling lonely every single day, and having someone to talk with and who will share with us is the key element for alleviating loneliness.

So, it seems we too often are not listening to one another, at least not deeply.

Not only that, but studies show that most of us, most often may not be deeply listing to other important aspects of our lives, such as:

• Our own inner voice and calling.
• Our own emotions.
• What our own bodies are telling us.
• Nature.
• God, or that which we consider ultimate and larger than ourselves.
• The cry of a world that is hurting and needs us to hear and take action.

Theologian David Augsburger wrote, “Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person they are almost indistinguishable.”

And, as our Call to Worship pointed out, doing the listening, hearing deeply is essential to our own wellbeing. It is how we learn and grow the most. It is how we create connection and belonging. It is the way in which we live love.

Now, I want to pause and acknowledge that for folks who face physical hearing challenges, which these days includes me, the language around deep listening might feel ill-fitting.

So let’s acknowledge the metaphor and respect that, for all of us, deeply understanding, respecting, and embracing one another involves all of our available ways of accessing and interacting with the world around us.

Telling our stories, and feeling that they have been deeply understood and respected, it vital to us as humans. As already noted, it is one one the huge ways by which we feel loved.

It creates a sense of belonging and acceptance.
It is how we process large emotions, such as grief.
It can alleviate suffering and help heal our woundedness. Deep listening is a gift and a blessing we can give to one another.

And doing the deep listening is a one of the practices that can nourish our own souls and transform our own lives the very most.

When we truly hold the story of another, we open ourselves to love – we create love in our relationships.

The sense of belonging and acceptance it creates for the person to whom we listen, it creates for us also.

And, it may touch our own suffering in ways that begin to heal the wounds we carry.

As I mentioned earlier, offering deep understanding to another is a major way in which we learn and grow.

When we fully embrace the sacred stories of others, we ourselves move into the hallowed space that is the ground of our own sacredness.

Now, that is pretty, abstract language, but how, practically, does such deep listening help us to learn and grow?

Well, probably in too many ways to cover them all today, but one of the bigs ones is it helps us overcome one of the major barriers to our own intellectual, emotional and spiritual development.

Confirmation bias.

And all of us as humans share a tendency toward it, at least to some degree.

Confirmation bias is when we come to believe something, and then start to only take in that information which supports what we already think, while simultaneously ignoring or reinterpreting anything that might contradict it.

Sound at all familiar?

Let’s bring it a little closer to home.

Let’s say, one were to decide something like, oh, I don’t know, those ministers talk too much about God during church. (or visa versa, but anyway).

Confirmation bias would then cause us to only sit up and take notice every time God or related language gets mentioned during a church service – you know, scribbling in our order of service, talkin’ about God stuff again.

And then, we would also ignore or explain away when no or very little such language gets used, never hearing that other folks would like more of a language of reverence.

Same thing with, “Worship should follow a set order of service and be exactly one hour” versus “No, services should be experimental and vary depending upon what needs to he addressed.”

or … “Too much boring old classical white people music” versus “No, we have too much new-fangled, non-reverent music.”

And then, too often, we only hear and remember what we don’t like and miss out on enjoying what we love!

The beautiful thing about listing deeply to others is, in order to do it, we have to acknowledge what they think, even if it contradicts what we do.

Now, that may not mean that we come to agree with them, but it at least allows information that confirmation bias would have otherwise caused us to ignore, and by doing so, we open ourselves to learning and growth and a possible expansion of our own perspective.

Not to mention a greater understanding of our fellow human beings and their beliefs, potential biases, and preferences.

I think of when I studied Buddhism. I didn’t become a Buddhist as a result, but I did come to understand how other folks perceive their world, and it altered my own practices – enhanced and added nuance to my own theology.

This way that listening deeply can break through our confirmation biases, I think, can be especially important when we find ourselves in strong disagreement with others.

Author, actor and founder of Urban Confessional: A Free Listening Movement, Benjamin Mathes tells a story of when he held up a sign that simply said, “free listening” at the Republican National Convention.

I want to read you an edited version of his story, because I don’t think I could do it justice otherwise. He writes:

She was just staring at me.

Finally, she walked up, and like a young warrior preparing for battle, she said:

“I don’t usually do this … But, I think abortion is wrong. It s not a form of birth control, and people who have them should be arrested for murder.”

… I wanted to stop her, and tell her my story.

I’ve sat with two loved ones as they suffered through the difficult decision and consequences of ending a pregnancy. It was a brutal human experience …

There were so many things I wanted to say.

I wanted to change her mind, to argue, to disagree. It s a natural response.

But, if my story brought me to my beliefs, then I needed to know how her story brought her to her beliefs.

So, I asked:

“Thank you for sharing that. Tell me your story? I’d love to know how you came to this point of view.”

She seemed surprised by my interest.

“Why? It doesn’t matter. Your sign said Free Listening, so I gave you something to listen to.”

“Give me more to listen to.”

“They should be locked up! Its wrong. Its not right to go out and sleep with whoever, then just toss away the result like it never happened.”

She paused … then inhaled the entire world.

“And its not fair. All I’ve ever wanted to be is a mom. My whole life, I knew I was meant to have children. Then, when I was 18 É 18 the doctor told me I’d never have children.

I kept it a secret, and when my husband found out, he left me. I’m alone, my body doesn’t work, I’m old … who will ever love me …”

I wondered if she could hear my heart breaking

Sometimes, there s nothing to “disagree” with.

I didn’t need to be right.

I just needed to be there.

She wiped away a few tears, gave me a hug, and thanked me for listening.

Maybe one day, she’ll hear my story. But today, it was my turn to hear hers.

I hope she felt loved.

The truth is, … our love can hold space for paradox, tension, and disagreement … our listening, must bring in, not edit out.

Dare to listen, dare to be quiet, dare to seek understanding; in the end, it’s the people we need to love, not their opinions.

Now, Benjamin Mathes didn’t change his mind about reproductive justice that day.

He did learn something about our own biases regarding those with whom we disagree.

And in fact, those who study it say that the number one way to dialogue with folks with whom we disagree, is to start with the question he asked, “Would you tell me your story?”

As one researcher put it, “Hear the Biography, not the ideology.”

Now, I’d like to quickly share a few other important tips for listening deeply, whether or not we agree or disagree:

• When possible, maintain eye contact and watch for verbal cues.
• Stop formulating your response while they are still speaking – you can’t keep an open mind if you do.
• Wait until they pause to ask questions and then only ask questions to clarify. “How can you possibly think that?” is not a clarifying question.
• Practice the 80/20 rule – if you are talking more than 20% of the time, stop talking and start listening more.

Finally, I want to close with two really big ones: Stop interrupting!

Author and researcher Diane Schilling writes, “Interrupting sends a variety of messages. It says:

• ‘I’m more important than you are.’
• ‘What I have to say is more interesting, accurate or relevant.’
• ‘I don’t really care what you think.’
• ‘I don’t have time for your opinion.’
• ‘This isn’t a conversation, it’s a contest, and I’m going to win.’

And, lastly and maybe most vitally, treat listening deeply as a spiritual practice … because we have to practice it in order to actually do it in our daily lives.

As I mentioned earlier, almost none of us were taught how to listen.

And one of the ways we can get the practice is right here, in this our religious community.

We can practice with each other.

And our small group ministries are designed specifically to encourage deep listening.

We can use them as models.

What if we made life our own small group ministry?

Whether it is with other people; our own inner voice, emotions or body; that which we consider ultimate; God; the cry of a world that needs us, deep listening is a sacred act.

“The truth is, … our love can hold space for paradox, tension, and disagreement … our listening; must bring in, not edit out.

Dare to listen, dare to be quiet, dare to seek understanding … Then, might our sainthood emerge after all.

It’s worth a try.

Amen.

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

HOW TO LISTEN
by Joyce Stephan

Tilt your head slightly to one side and lift your eyebrows expectantly. Ask questions.
Delve into the subject at hand or let things come randomly.
Don’t expect answers.
Forget everything you’ve ever done. Make no comparisons. Simply listen.
Listen as if the story you are hearing is happening right now.
Listen as if a move might frighten the truth away forever.
Don’t attempt to copy anything down.
Don’t bring a camera or a recorder.
This is your chance to listen carefully.
Your whole life might depend on what you hear.

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 24 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link above to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.

PODCASTS

Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the podcast link above or copying and pasting this link. https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/first-unitarian-universalist/id372427776

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Chris Jimmerson
September 29, 2024
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

This month, our church has been participating with our sibling churches throughout the country in the UU Climate Justice Revival. We have had a variety of learning and participation opportunities throughout September, focusing particularly on the climate crisis. This Sunday will be the culmination of those activities, and we will explore how faith can ground us in hope and resilience as we work to save our planet and ourselves.

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 MOMENT
by Margaret Atwood

The moment when, after many years
of hard work and a long voyage
you stand in the centre of your room,
house, half-acre, square mile, island, country,
knowing at last how you got there,
and say, I own this,
is the same moment when the trees
unloose their soft arms from around you,
the birds take back their language,
the cliffs fissure and collapse,
the air moves back from you like a wave
and you can’t breathe.

No, they whisper.
You own nothing.
You were a visitor,
time after time
climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming.
We never belonged to you.
You never found us.
It was always the other way round.

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

HOW THE EARTH TRANSFORMS US
by Thomas Starr King
from an 1863 sermon entitled “Lessons from the Sierra Nevada”

Thomas Starr King was an American Universalist and Unitarian minister. Starr King was a dedicated abolitionist and supporter of black liberation. He was credited by Abraham Lincoln with preventing California from becoming a separate republic. He is sometimes referred to as “the orator who saved the nation”.

I believe that if, on every Sunday morning before going to church, we could be lifted to a mountain peak and see a horizon line of six hundred miles enfolding the copious splendor of the light on such a varied expanse; or if we could look upon a square mile of flowers representing all the species with which the Creative Spirit embroiders a zone; or if we could be made to realize the distance of the earth from the sun, the light of which travels every morning twelve millions of miles a minute to feed and bless us, and which the force of gravitation pervades without intermission to hold our globe calmly in its orbit and on its poise; if we could fairly perceive, through our outward senses, one or two features of the constant order and glory of nature, our materialistic dullness would be broken, surprise and joy would be awakened, we should feel that we live amid the play of Infinite thought; and the devout spirit.

Sermon

This month at the church, we have been participating in the nationwide Unitarian Universalist Climate Justice Revival.

So it is sadly synchronistic that, as we entered this capstone weekend and worship service of our month dedicated to climate justice, we have witnessed the heartbreaking destruction and loss of life caused by Hurricane Helene.

Because of the climate crisis, our existing model for tracking and predicting hurricanes has become woefully inadequate.

The model is based largely on maximum sustained windspeed, and because of warming sea waters, these storms are growing more powerful, with higher winds developing. This has led some scientists to propose adding categories 6 and 7 to our current 5.

Perhaps even more significantly, our storms now can intensify much more rapidly, as Helene did, and they are massive.

So, they can bring greater destruction over a much wider swath of areas and cause much greater damage and loss of life even at lower categories because even with lower wind speeds they now bring such immense tidal surges, rains, and other storm effects

And these ever more threatening hurricanes are just one of the many increasingly severe weather events we are enduring across the globe because of the human caused climate crisis.

Now, I suspect that I don’t need to convince most of you that the climate crisis is real, is a huge threat, and that it is, in fact, being caused by humans.

So, if I have climate crisis deniers listening in this morning, rest easily. I am not going to try to convince you to change your minds.

In fact, the folks who study these things say that would most often be a waste of time – that we are better off talking with folks who are convincible but not yet engaged, as well as talking amongst those of us who already believe the climate crisis science, so that we are moved to hope and action, rather than getting mired in despair over how daunting the climate challenge really is.

Many, many thanks to church members Victoria and Bob Hendricks, for leading so many activities, artistic projects, discussions and more this month that have allowed folks of all ages in this church to do just that!

Each week, Bob and Victoria have led us in a different area of exploration. Their first weekly theme was “personal action to fight climate change”.

As you heard earlier, folks in this church sent over 8,000 postcards to climate engaged, but inconsistent voters, encouraging them to get out and vote in this election.

Further, we’ve discussed that we can all reduce our carbon footprint, vote, and take public action on the climate crisis.

And studies show that the more each of us do that, the more other folks will join in and do so also.

The next theme is on how “a fight for any social justice, is a fight for climate justice”.

(Slide)

Bob send me this picture from one such discussion where folks in this church put magnetic markers on a board to show the justice concerns we address.

First, I am struck by such a wonderful range of justice concerns. Second, they are all so intersectional. Here are just a few examples specifically related to climate justice.

• • Immigration – the climate crisis is driving huge increases in migration, as folks are forced to leave their native lands that are becoming uninhabitable.

• • We know that LGBTQ+ youth are much more likely to experience housing insecurity and are thus more likely to be extremely endangered by climate events like Hurricane Helene.

• • BICPOC folks are disproportionately being displaced by climate gentrification, as extraordinarily wealthy, mostly white folks take over geographic areas less likely to be as susceptible to the ravages of climate change.

• Democracy – We know that severe weather events make it much more difficult for low income and poor people to vote.

And, these areas of justice are also interconnected because we have more power when know they intersect, and so we combine our efforts.

Victories in one area of justice so often lead to victories in others. The next theme is that we have to talk about the climate crisis.

Telling our stories is one of the most powerful ways we can encourage one another to join and/or stay in the fight.

Stories like in the film, Cooked: Survival by Zipcode that we showed at the church during the revival.

It tells the heartrending story of a tragic heatwave in Chicago” in which 739 citizens died over the course of a single week, most of them poor, elderly, and African American.

• Intersectionality.

In a wonderful Ted Talk, “The most important thing you can do to fight climate change: talk about it,” climate scientist Kathryn Hayhoe acknowledges that talking about it can be really hard.

She says that rather than talking about science and facts, we should look for shared values to discuss.

I have a friend who is more conservative, but who loves nature and gardening.

The climate crisis is changing what plants they can choose and altering some of our mutual favorite nature spots, and that has opened up a whole conversation between us that had never been possible before.

Well, our final theme this month is the importance of public policy in combatting the climate crisis.

The truth is, while all of our individual efforts are absolutely vital, they will not be enough to overcome the damage inflicted by large corporations that

are placing short-term profits over people’s lives and even their own, longterm viability.

The only thing that can stop them is public policy, and they are spending billions to make sure their voices are louder than than ours.

And that can be discouraging, I know. But we can vote in greater numbers.

We may have less dollars, but we can make sure we have many, many more voices to amplify.

Bob Hendricks tells the story of how by 2021, climate activists had grown greatly discouraged by how, despite putting pressure on congress for many years, their voices were getting drowned out by the corporate lobbyists.

But then, the Biden Administration introduced the Build Back Better Act, that due in large part to their efforts, included billions in funding to fight the climate crisis.

Through many a battle, even after it looked like we might lose several times, eventually, we got a version passed that included provisions that could reduce carbon pollution by 43 to 48% by 2035.

My beloveds, we can have hope.

We can win the battle to begin reversing this crisis.

Just visit drawdown.org and see the multitude of science-backed ways in which we can do it.

As our call to worship and our reading earlier illustrate, we can find hope by remembering that we are inextricably woven within the web of all existence and letting the beauty of that center us in a great love for it, just as we have centered our UU faith in love.

And one of the ways that we do that is through embodied ritual.

So this morning, I want to invite you to participate in one such ritual.

We have provided you with these sheets of water soluble paper. And yes, it is environmentally friendly, even after dissolved in water.

I am going to play a video featuring just some of that for which we are centering ourselves in love.

I invite you as the video plays to contemplate two things:

• • 1. where you find hope and love regarding the climate crisis, and

• 2. at least one commitment you will make to combat it.

I invite you to either write these on your paper or to simply whisper them into it. If you are online, please feel free to post the same into the comments.

During the music, I invite you to then come forward down the outer aisles and dissolve your paper into the vases of water we have placed up front, exiting down the center aisle.

After the service, we will use the water to nurture our tree of hope and remembrance that we planted on our grounds a few years ago and that has against all odds survived both ice storm and draught, sometimes just barely. May the love and commitment you mingle together in these waters keep hope and remembrance alive and thriving.

All blessings upon these waters. All blessing upon the hope, love and commitment you have blended into them.

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

– Thich Nhat Hanh

This beautiful, bounteous, life-giving planet we call Earth has given birth to each one of us, and each one of us carries the Earth within every cell of our body …

We can all experience a feeling of deep admiration and love when we see the great harmony, elegance and beauty of the Earth. A simple branch of cherry blossom, the shell of a snail or the wing of a bat – all bear witness to the Earth’s masterful creativity … When we can truly see and understand the Earth, love is born in our hearts. We feel connected. That is the meaning of love: to be at one.

Only when we’ve truly fallen back in love with the Earth will our actions spring from reverence and the insight of our interconnectedness.

May we heed his words.

May the congregation say, “Amen”, and “blessed be”. Go in peace.

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 24 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link above to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.

PODCASTS

Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the podcast link above or copying and pasting this link. https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/first-unitarian-universalist/id372427776

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Chris Jimmerson
September 22, 2024
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

We are barreling toward the holidays and all the joy, stress, love, grief, community, busyness, beauty, loneliness, and so much more they can entail. And then there is also a major election and its as yet unknown aftermath. How do we begin to find our spiritual center so that we can be better prepared for the heightened intensity of the season to come?

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

WE ARE
– Clarissa Pinkola Estes

We do not become healers.
We came as healers.
We are
Some of us are still catching up to what we are.

We do not become storytellers.
We came as carriers of the stories
we and our ancestors actually lived.
We are.
Some of us are still catching up to what we are.

We do not become artists.
We came as artists.
We are.
Some of us are still catching up to what we are.

We do not become writers … dancers … musicians … helpers … peacemakers.
We came as such.
We are.
Some of us are still catching up to what we are.

We do not learn to love in this sense.
We came as Love.
We are Love.
Some of us are still catching up to who we truly are.

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

REMEMBER
– Joy Harjo

Remember the sky that you were born under,
know each of the star’s stories.
Remember the moon, know who she is.
Remember the sun’s birth at dawn, that is the
strongest point of time. Remember sundown
and the giving away to night.
Remember your birth, how your mother struggled
to give you form and breath. You are evidence
of her life, and her mother’s, and hers.
Remember your father. He is your life, also.
Remember the earth whose skin you are:
red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth
brown earth, we are earth.
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their
tribes, their families, their histories, too.
Talk to them, listen to them. They are alive poems.
Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the
origin of this universe.
Remember you are all people and all people
are you.
Remember you are this universe and this
universe is you.
Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you.
Remember language comes from this.
Remember the dance language is, that life is.
Remember.

Sermon

Happy Holidays!

No, Rev. Chris isn’t losing it.

It’s just, it is September and all of the stores have had Halloween decor out for weeks already.

I was at an HEB the other day, and they already had a whole fall Thanksgiving merchandise display up.

A local news station recently ran a story about a great brouhaha that has erupted on social media over Hobby Lobby already putting out Christmas decorations.

So, like it or not, we already get to start thinking about the impending season of joy.

Or angst, depending upon your perspective.

So, I thought we might start this morning with a little embodied spiritual engagement.

I will ask some questions. If the answer is true for you, and you are here in person, please just raise your hand. Or you can stand up and cry hallelujah if you are so moved. If you’re online, feel free to answer in the comments.

Of courses if you are uncomfortable with any of this, it’s fine to just think about what your answer might be.

OK, first question. How many of you are just jazzed about the upcoming holiday season?

How many of you are already stressed about it and would happily tell Hobby Lobby exactly what they can do with their way too early Christmas decorations?

Any abstentia?

Personally I feel deeply that the display of Thanksgiving and Christmas decor should be banned until the average daily high temperature has fallen to no more 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

And during the middle of all of it, we also have that pesky election coming up.

How many of you are feeling extremely nervous about the election and/or its potential aftermath?

Well if you are having less than joy-filled feelings about the holidays and/or the election, you are not alone.

Surveys have found that 62% of folks feel elevated stress during the holidays. Forty percent don’t want to celebrate at all because of grief and loss. Sixty percent feel lonely at some point during the holidays; 64% of folks with psychological challenges say the the holidays make their conditions worse. Cardiac mortality is highest during the holiday season.

Now, add to that a presidential election year, where three quarters of the population says they are feeling stressed and anxious, over a quarter are in conflict with their family or loved ones, and 40% say they are depressed about it. We have seen that before, right here at this church.

For several weeks after the 2016 election, I remember having to pull chairs out of the fellowship hall and put them in the back of the sanctuary to handle all of the folks coming to our services because they needed community in the face of the fear and trauma they were experiencing.

My therapist told me that therapists were seeking each other out for counseling sessions in the aftermath of that election.

During the 2020 election and its aftermath, our requests for pastoral care went way up, especially after the January 6 attempted coup (and that’s what it was. We were just lucky that it was so incompetently planned).

So, while the holidays can certainly bring joy, community, family, generosity and more, one of our pre-holiday annual rituals has also become trying to prepare ourselves for the potentially not so bright aspects of the season – the sheer intensity of it.

As I was thinking about this, the first thought that occurred to me is that we have to start our preparing by centering ourselves – locating ourselves within that calmest, strongest, truest self – that spark of the divine within each of us.

And that’s how being a part of a faith community like this one can be such a huge support for us moving into the upcoming season.

The second thought that occurred to me though, is that one of the things that makes it more difficult for all of us to find our spiritual center is that we are all carrying at least a certain degree of collective trauma and grief from the events of the past several years. And we have to recognize that in order to move past it.

So, I want to spend some time this morning talking about everyone’s favorite holiday topics – trauma and grief.

First though, I do want to let you that you don’t have to take my word for any of this – I ran it by my therapist, and she said it was spot on. Of course, I am paying her to make me feel better.

So first, collective trauma and grief are much like our individual experiences of them, only they occur when entire communities experience them all at once.

Communities that have gone through natural disasters, war and genocide, our country after the terrorists attacks of 9/11/2001, the world community after the Covid pandemic are a few examples.

My therapist pointed out that it was only a few years ago that we were all witnessing images of refrigerator trucks parked outside of our hospitals because so many people had died of Covid that the morgues were all full.

So, she commented, it would be a far stretch to say we are past having collective trauma and grief that may be hampering our ability to engage our spiritual center.

Now, quickly, trauma and grief are not the same.

Trauma is the emotional and psychological response to deeply disturbing or distressing events whether or not they involve a permanent loss, while grief is a collection of strong, often painful feelings that follow a loss or that happen in anticipation of a loss.

I’m talking about them together today though, because they so often occur together and can be strongly interwoven.

For instance, an unaddressed trauma response can often lead to what is sometimes called complicated grief – where we either delay our grief because we are unable to fully engage with it, or we kind of get stuck in continuous, profound and often disabling grief because of the trauma.

All of this is especially common with collective forms of trauma and grief. Now, of course, when we are part of these collective experiences we also experience it as individuals, and it doesn’t change that we may at the same time also experience traumatic events or loss in our own individual lives too.

Before I talk about how we might move though collective trauma and grief, many of you know that I am grieving the recent loss of my spouse Wayne.

So, it would feel disingenuous for me not to talk a little bit about individual trauma and grief.

I will ask your understanding that it is too soon for me to able to talk more than just a little bit about it. And, again, I don’t pretend to be an expert on all this. I am reading a good book about it though, because I am a good Unitarian Universalist.

Here are a few things I can say.

• • Messages of love and support matter. Thank you to all of you have sent such messages to me.

• • For me, physical affection helps a lot too. Hugs are welcome. For other folks though, please do ask first whether physical expressions of affection would be helpful or not.

• Asking how I am doing is not particularly helpful.

Most of the time, the honest answer would be “I have no idea. I cry a lot.” And that’s OK, my book says that’s part of grieving.

Still, I might not especially feel like talking about it just then and how I am doing seems to change every few minutes anyway.

Having said that, know that I forget and ask folks that because I genuinely am concerned about how they’re doing.

Know we all sometimes struggle with knowing what to say, and that when our heart is in the right place, that will be clear, even if we don’t know what the right words might be.

As Parker Palmer put it,

“It’s not about what you say … I took comfort and strength from the people who neither fled from me nor tried to save me but were simply present to me.”

We can more support those who are grieving by offering compassion, understanding and tenderness.

So, please understand I find I tire easily, which my book says is also very common, so I am not at 100% and will have to pace my church schedule for a while.

I also have absolutely no memory. So please forgive me if I forget things, or something never makes it to my to-do list. Feel free to send an email follow up so it’s more likely to get on that list and to check back later with a gentle reminder if it seems like maybe it didn’t.

Finally, a couple of related items – grief doesn’t just happen because of losing someone we love like I am experiencing – and sometimes we can get all judgy about trauma and grief, and that can make folks who are grieving the loss of a job, or a dream, or a pet, or a marriage or relationship and so on, afraid to share what they are feeling.

So, related to that, we often don’t know who is coping with trauma and grief, and as I’ve said, and my therapist verified, we are all dealing with some degree of collective trauma and grief, so we might do well to just always approach one another with that compassion, understandings and tenderness I mentioned earlier.

OK, now, how do we help each other move through collective trauma and grief so that each of us is better able to spiritually center ourselves as we move into this election and holiday season?

Remember after 9-11, when we are told to just go shopping? That’s not it. Perhaps not surprisingly, what it does involve is many of the same ways we center ourselves individually, only for collective experiences we also heal together communally.

One of the best examples of this I have read is the story of the grieving parents, as well as the children who survived the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school mass shooting.

It is hard to believe the children who survived are now young adults. Together, as a community, the folks from Sandy Hook:

• • created opportunities for public mourning and embodied rituals

• • offered the children therapy involving theatre type play

• • engaged in community art projects reflecting upon their losses

• • made lists within their community of folks whom they would check in on and who would check in on them

• • volunteered to help other people through the trauma of the seemingly endless stream of continuing mass shooting events

• organized to advocate changes to this country’s abominable gun laws.

Those last two kind of remind me of the saying by author E.B. White

“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”

I think we too often forget that in our efforts to save the world, we are also, so often, saving ourselves.

As we approach this holiday season and this election, as a religious community, we can do all of the things they did to help each other work though our fears and any pain we may carry so that we can, as we heard in our call to worship earlier, catch up to the love we truly are.

Certainly, depending upon how the election and its aftermath go, we will offer rituals and other opportunities for processing it communally.

If you are feeling like you might like some support moving into the holidays, please feel free to contact caring@austinuu.org.

Together, we can help each other remember – remember our profound interconnectedness, as so beautifully illustrated by our reading today.

Together, we can help each remember – remember to offer one another compassion, understanding, and tenderness throughout the season.

Remember that we, as a community are faith-FULL. Remember that we already have strong hearts. Remember that we already are true hearts. Remember.

Amen.

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 let us go out into the world centered in the love we already are.
Now let us remember that the universe is within us and we are the universe.
Now let us know that our fears and sorrows can open us to even more joy and even more love.
Now let us find peace in building the Beloved Community.

May the congregation say, “Amen”, and “Blessed be.”
Go in peace.

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 24 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link above to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.

PODCASTS

Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the podcast link above or copying and pasting this link. https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/first-unitarian-universalist/id372427776

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

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

Rev. Michelle and Rev. Chris will answer your questions about the church, life, the universe, and everything (though neither will pretend to have the answers to all that).

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 marvelous thing about a good question is that it shapes our identity as much by asking the question as it does by the answering.

– David Whyte

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

Courageous people willing to admit ignorance and raise difficult questions is usually not just more prosperous, but also more peaceful than societies in which everyone must unquestioningly accept a single answer. People afraid of losing their truth tend to be more violent. Questions you cannot answer are usually far better for you than answers you cannot question.

– Yuval Noah Harari, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century

Sermon

NOTE: This is an edited ai generated transcript.
Please forgive the omissions and/or errors.

Michelle
So today is our question box sermon. This is a time when we attempt to offer an answer to some of your questions. It may not be the only answer or the right answer or the best answer, but we will offer some answers, some potential answers and I also want to and we will do our best to get all of these questions I want so much to answer everyone they are so precious today we may not get to all of them but we will try and realizing each one could be a sermon in its own right. You’re asking two preachers. So double the trouble.

First question that we received ahead of time is a two-part question.

HOW SHOULD YOU RESPOND WHEN SOMEONE SINCERELY SAYS THEY WILL PRAY FOR YOU?

Michelle
My answer is most of the time to look them in the eyes with kindness and gratitude and say thank you because it is about them and their spirituality and they are offering you a gift in the best way that they know how. Some of the time that may not be appropriate. What I’m thinking about are instances relating to oppression, such as when someone offers to pray the gay away, or offers to fix your disabled body, or things like that. In those cases, I would not respond in those ways.

But if you’re in some time of crisis in your life, facing a hospitalization or surgery or grieving a loss, then gratitude is what I would offer as the best response to an offer of prayer.

The other half of that question is:

HOW ABOUT WHEN THEY ARE SARCASTIC OR NASTY ABOUT IT, SAYING, FOR EXAMPLE, YOU SURE NEED THESE PRAYERS?

Michelle
A simple ouch. Or, wow, is fine. You can call them on it and say, you know, that’s a really hurtful comment. It’s okay to name it and say it. Prayer is not and should not be a weapon.

Chris
Thanks, Michelle. I wouldn’t add a lot to that except I try to also remember that we don’t know what they think of as prayer when they say this to us. So for Since I do pray, but it’s not to a higher power, it’s kind of just putting my wishes for the universe out there. So if I say I’m praying for you, I’m sending you well wishes, is what I mean by that. If they’re sarcastic or nasty, I just tend to say, well, and I’m going to pray your hairdo gets better too. I don’t actually. I think that what I do consider sometimes with something like that is do I need to set boundaries and or is this a person I need to continue to have in my life?

The next question,
DID GOD CREATE HUMANS IN GOD’S IMAGE OR DID HUMANS CREATE A GOD IN THEIR IMAGE?

Chris
Yes.

Actually, that was a joke, but I’m going to talk in a minute about a theology that I hold that I think would answer that, yes, or both. And I also, though, want to get to what I think this question may be getting at, which is that when we create an idea of God that reflects ourselves, that we humanize, it’s too easy to cast our own selves into that God and to cast our own prejudices and our own hatreds and our own behavior into that God and thereby to excuse those things about ourselves. So I think that’s the danger of creating a God in our own image.

A theology that really supports me these days is called process relational theology and the idea behind it is though we think of ourselves and this pulpit as solid objects – we’re really not. We are processes of evolution or becoming so the very fact that we’re having this conversation today is changing us. As we have it the Buddhists would say, “That flame in our chalice seems to be a solid object but it’s really not.” It’s a process of fuel and oxygen repeatedly being burned….

…its tributaries is calling us to live in the ways of love. And so from that perspective, that river of love that I call God is both creating us and we are contributing to God and creating God at the same time. So I think that’s a lovely theology and it calls us by the very nature that we’re all processes to engage in liberation together because none of us can become…

Michelle
… so you may recognize that this question refers to an early line in Genesis about God creating humans in God’s image. And the interesting thing about the Hebrew is that it is actually plural, Elohim, in our images, that there are a multitude, a multiplicity of gods, not just the one monotheistic God that we have been taught to believe in.

The Hebrew Bible came into creation over at least 1,400 years, depending on how you do the math, possibly a few hundred more years than that, depending on which academic scholar you follow. And it took all of that time to come into what most Christians consider to be a solid monotheistic perspective that they have today. In the meantime, if we were to think about the ancient Israelites, such as those who the story is told about wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, they believed that there were other gods out there and that the God that we now call simply God was their God. And they imagined when they were fighting with other groups, with other cultures, other peoples, as in wartime, not simple conflict, that while the humans were battling on the field here on earth, their God leaders were also battling up in heaven. And it was the stronger God who would win.

So when we talk about God’s rod and staff, we’re really talking about the symbols of God that are carried in and before a people, especially during wartime, not instruments used to beat people, their symbols. That’s a complete misunderstanding of the Hebrew.

So long answer is, interestingly enough, now that we are U.S. who believe in a multiplicity of theologies and philosophies, we can go right back to the beginning of the Hebrew Bible that also believes in a multiplicity of gods. Hopefully ours won’t like go to war, though. Oh, and then the next question I have is:

I DO HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT THE DISCUSSION OF GOD AT THE UNITARIAN CHURCH. I WOULD IMAGINE THAT IF WE TOOK A SURVEY OF OUR CONGREGANTS AND ASKED IF THEY BELIEVED IN GOD, MOST WOULD SAY YES. NOW, OF COURSE, INDIVIDUAL BELIEFS IN GOD WOULD VARY TREMENDOUSLY. MY QUESTION IS: WHY DON’T UNITARIANS EVER DISCUSS THE SUBJECT OF GOD, EITHER FROM THE PULPIT OR IN SMALL GROUPS? I IMAGINE IT IS BECAUSE IT WOULD MAKE SOME UNCOMFORTABLE AND OTHERS FELT IT WOULD BE TOO CLOSE TO PRESSING A DOGMA. BUT IT SEEMS A BELIEF WOULD HAVE A BIG PART OF SPIRITUALITY WHICH I FEEL IS LACKING IN UU.

Michelle
This could totally be a sermon in response. That’s a very long question. So I have so much I would love to say about this.

One is that as Unitarian Universalists, we are a faith tradition of people who are come-outers. We do have our children that we raise in our faith and grow up and remain UUs. We also have many, many new people who are constantly leaving other faith traditions and coming into our faith traditions. They are bringing so much of their religious hurt with them that as a community in order to support them, we are often in the position of supporting people who are feeling really hurt and broken over concepts of God and religion…

…I’m not sure I want to call it standard Christianity, but mainline Christianity believes in this Greco-Hebrew amalgamation of a monotheistic god with all sorts of omnis attached to it doesn’t mean that’s the only definition of God.

We UUs have as much power and privilege to define God in the way that we see God as they do. So we can say that we believe in a God and define that God for ourselves, whether it is as a river of love or a force in the universe or the power behind evolution, all sorts of different kinds of ways. So yes, we often default to terms like eternal, sacred, divine, holy, universe, earth.

But we also have this opportunity to learn to translate in and amongst each other and with other faith traditions to make the theology work for ourselves. This is where it comes in of not being you, easy to be a UU. We have to work to be UUs, right? Amen. That’ll move us along. Next question.

WHAT IS YOUR SECRET FOR CREATING SUCH A POSITIVE, ENGAGING, EXCITING ATMOSPHERE FOR ALL AGES AT FIRST UU, BOTH IN THE SERVICE, ESPECIALLY IN THE SERMON, AND ALL AROUND THE CHURCH, IN SPITE OF ALL THE WORRIES THAT SURROUND US AND OUR DAILY LIFE, POLITICS, CLIMATE, VIOLENCE, ET CETERA.

Chris
Wow. There’s a whole other sermon here. So first, thank you. Questions like this help me keep that positive outlook. I think that for Michelle and I as spiritual leaders of the church, or at least speaking for myself, in order to do that, I have to know how to do that for myself. Where do I sustain myself? How do I find that positive energy even when things are hard?

And for me, I go back to that sustaining theology, process theology, that I was just talking about and try to make that real in my life, even when things are hard….

… I’m doing a whole sermon here. One of the professors, Sharon Welch, where I went to seminary, talked about when things are really hard, letting go of the outcome is so important and thinking about what are we going to do? How do we live? Can we find the joy regardless of the outcome? So, for instance, I think with the climate crisis, we do work toward an outcome that we hope for. And I think that outcome is possible. And I think we’re also seeing that we may not get the outcome we hope for. We’re seeing some really scary stuff. And if we only look at that outcome, it’s hard to fill the joy in what we’re doing now. And so living according to our values in the moment and working for what we dream about in the world, whether or not we know that’s going to happen, helps us maintain that joy.

The final thing I’ll say, many of you know what I’m going through in my personal life right now. As a young Southern Texas male I was taught that the way you deal with those negative things is to not feel anything at all. And let me tell you that is not the answer because feeling nothing at all I can tell you is worse than feeling grief and hurt and pain. We need those things because without those things, we also don’t feel love and joy. So let me tell you, the hurt is worth, the love is worth the hurt. It absolutely is. And please don’t try not to feel. Feeling, you have to feel. And that’s the whole gamut of things because if you anesthetize the pain, you anesthetize the joy and love.

Michelle
And I would just put that right back on all of you when I can walk in here on Sunday morning and pick up on so much energy and life and vitality and joy. It feeds my spirit so much. It’s the best part of the entire week for me is when I arrive here at church on Sunday morning. And I don’t know if any of you online can pick up on that or feel it at all. I hope that you can. And I assure you that it is here. And that is from all of you.

And on top of that, I walk into working with this great staff team with Kinsey and Shannon and Brent and Aubrey and everyone else and they are just amazing to work with and you are so lucky to have them and I feel so lucky and blessed to work with Rev Chris to minister with him I am just having the best time doing that. So, that really feeds my joy. Next question.

I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A MINISTER GOES ON SABBATICAL OR OTHER LONGER TERM LEAVE HOW IS THE WORK OF THE CHURCH CONTINUED. WHO COVERS FOR THEM.

Michelle
This is a very relevant question right now. So as many of you know, Chris’s husband is in hospice. So he will be facing bereavement leave at some point. And we are going to hold and support him through that whenever that happens. Also, Chris is due for some sabbatical time this year and I will let him share in a moment about what he might do on his sabbatical.

I am also facing some surgeries this year. So as a congregation that has a form of policy governance which requires us to have a continuous operation plan. The basic plan is basically you are going to have one minister all year with periods of two ministers for maybe a couple of weeks at a time here and there.

So this is a joy today to actually be with Chris before he goes out for another couple of weeks. So Chris will be out for two weeks in September, for sure. He will be out for sabbatical in November and December. I will be going out for a total knee replacement in January and February, Chris will be going out for sabbatical in March and April. I will be saying goodbye to all of you in mid-June and then taking another opportunity for my other knee, total knee replacement and moving to wherever I go next. So between the two of us, we are planning to have a calm, stable, sustaining year. We’re probably not going to do a whole bunch of brand new, huge initiatives. It’ll be more like little tweaks and improvements here and there, and also just keep one of the reasons I chose to come to this church is because you are vital and alive and thriving post-pandemic. So we want to keep that going and that’s basically the plan.

Chris
Great. I wouldn’t add a lot except just to let you know that I was actually due for my sabbatical and then the pandemic happened. And then I was talking about taking it and then our minister Meg retired. So it’s been a while coming. I look forward to it. The reason we do sabbatical is to refresh ourselves a little bit and to get some time that we can think about, what in the world am I going to preach about next?

Right now, what sounds good to me for sabbatical is to load my two pups in the car with me and have a general idea where I’m going and then just drive. So I would love to do that for a little bit. I will also mention that we will bring in some help, some coverage part-time. We have talked with Aaron Walter, who you’ll remember was one of our interim ministers last year, and she will be helping us out. So I do want to get to a couple of these, and we’re running out of time. So one of the questions that just got asked is:

WHY DID MICHAEL SERVETUS GO TO GENEVA WHEN EVERYBODY TOLD HIM NOT TO?

Chris
Because he was a Unitarian. Just kidding.

WHAT DO YOU FIND MOST FULFILLING IN YOUR WORK AS A UU MINISTER?

Michelle
Oh my gosh. So much. Like I already said, the joy and vitality of coming in here and being with you in person on Sunday morning. But the things that touch my heart the most are when you share your stories about how you are going through life and what you are learning and how you are growing and changing from it, how you are transforming.

Chris
So I think we’re running out of time. I agree with all that. I think the only thing I might add is that I want to be a part of a faith that makes a real difference for us and for other people in the world. I believe this church does that. It certainly does that in my life. Being with you’all makes a real difference. That is the thing I love the most. Our faith makes a difference in the world for the better.

Michelle
All right. Actually, I’ll close with a little story, and then we’ll sing. We just had a board retreat, and at the close of that board retreat, we came to a place where I felt like the entire board was on-board with really doing the work of dismantling white supremacy culture, and really turning in the way that they’re thinking about how to do the work of governing this church in a new way. And so I am so excited and fulfilled by having heard what they had to say.

And Chris and I were talking this morning about apologies for the past. For the first time, we’re excited about writing our monthly monitoring reports. Because a whole new world has opened up, and we’re going to be able to do it in such a better way. And I just love that.

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

As we go out into our world now, may we continue to explore questions more profound than answers. And may we also find some really good answers every now and then. May the congregation say amen. And blessed be. Go in peace.

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 24 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link above to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.

PODCASTS

Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the podcast link above or copying and pasting this link. https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/first-unitarian-universalist/id372427776

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Chris Jimmerson
August 18, 2024
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

The challenges of life and our current world can exhaust our minds, bodies, and spirits. We often think of renewal as finding nourishment and new energy from sources outside of ourselves, and that can certainly be valid sometimes. What if another source of reinvigorating our spirit comes from within though? How do we release the spark of the divine within us so that it can burn brighter than ever?

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

STRIPPING AWAY ALL THAT IS NOT WHO WE REALLY ARE
by Alan Seale

Michelangelo said, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” There is nothing to add to our souls, to ourselves, or to our societies in order to find out who we are as manifestations of Source, Consciousness, or God. Our job now is to carve away everything that keeps us from being who we really are … who we are called to be from the depth of our human spirit.

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

THE UNBROKEN
Rashani Réa

There is a brokenness
out of which comes the unbroken,
a shatteredness
out of which blooms the unshatterable.
There is a sorrow
beyond all grief which leads to joy
and a fragility
out of whose depths emerges strength.
There is a hollow space
too vast for words
through which we pass with each loss,
out of whose darkness
we are sanctioned into being.
There is a cry deeper than all sound
whose serrated edges cut the heart
as we break open to the place inside
which is unbreakable and whole,
while learning to sing.

Sermon

As many of you know, but some may not, a few months ago my spouse, Wayne, had to go on home hospice care because of a hereditary, chronic immune condition. We have since tried one final potential treatment, but it caused dangerous side effects, so he is now on health maintenance and palliative medications only. He is pretty much homebound now.

We have some good days though, as well as some times that are hard. We are in a liminal space, where we have no way to know what to expect each day, though we do know we have fewer and fewer days left together, so we’d better get busy loving each other in each moment now.

But isn’t that really always true.

I start by sharing this with you this morning for at least a couple of reasons. One is just that, I know it can feel awkward to bring it up, even if to express your thoughts and support.

As we continue to build an even greater culture of caring in the church, we have to be OK with discussing these things. It’s OK to share what we’re going through. It’s OK to to express care and support for what others are going through. It doesn’t have to be awkward to raise the subject – even when it involves the minister. And, I want you to know how much your expressions of support have meant to both me and Wayne.

Now, in a church this size, it can become difficult though for folks to share updates with more than 400 people on an individual basis, so we’ve set up a system where the co-chairs of our First UU Cares Ministry and the ministers can let the church know what is going on with folks who are facing life challenges.

The same is true for me. I am keeping Rev. Michelle, and Susan and Toni of First UU Cares updated on our situation so that they can let you know what is happening with us, should you want to ask them. You can email First UU Cares through caring@austinuu.org.

The other reason I wanted to start with this it that today we are exploring how to find renewal when life depletes our energy and resources sometimes.

Wayne and I are pretty much having to find renewal every day in order to make the most of every moment we can, while we still can.

So, I thought I might share somethings that help me find renewal these days. Now, I didn’t just come up with this stuff myself – these are things out there in the literature that have been found to revive our spirits even during difficult circumstances.

And lets face it, we all go through challenges sometimes, whether in our own lives or more broadly – more broadly, like, oh, a pandemic, a climate crisis, an election where fascism will be on the ballot, witnessing and some of us experiencing experiencing ongoing, systemic racism and oppression, witnessing war, terrorism, genocide and more in world events – well, all of these and then some can kind of wear us down sometimes, can’t they – exhaust us, mind, body and soul.

And so here are some places we may find renewal even in challenging times:

• Community,
• Nature,
• Rest and Reset,
• Joy and Play,
• the Sacred Self

COMMUNITY:
We so often find rebirth in relationship – find ourselves revived by the support of others.

Wayne and I are so fortunate to be held by so many wonderful communities of love and support, including this one.

And research is finding, for example, among social justice movements, that it is not possible to sustain our efforts, to consistently access these other sources of renewal without building community first.

Now, there is this interesting paradox about community though – sometimes we also need solitude in order to fully realize the depth of community. We have to go up to the mountain top alone in order to come back more fully interconnected and engaged than ever.

One morning recently, I snuck away to a little spot nearby that overlooks a babbling creek, just to have my morning coffee in solitude. And somehow, in that time alone, I sensed more strongly than ever how firmly held in community I truly am.

NATURE:
So many of us replenish our souls through being in nature, in solitude or in community with others. Our UU transcendentalist forbearers thought of nature as a source for communion with the divine. Getting out in nature is a big one for me – at least when it is not 105 degrees out!

Well, I could go on and about the renewing nature of nature, but why listen to me when we have the poetry of Mary Oliver.

WHEN I AM AMONG THE TREES
– Mary Oliver

When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beach, the oaks, and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness and discernment,
and never hurry through the world,
but walk slowly and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and callout, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again. “It’s simple,” they say.
“And you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”

REST AND RESET:
Becoming a caretaker, I’ve discovered, adds so much extra. It means helping someone else do the things we normally do for ourselves. The chores and errands of daily life – laundry, doing the dishes, getting groceries, picking up prescriptions, – things that were once shared, must now be done by just one. So all that extra also requires extra rest.

The problem, says activist, performance artist and founder of the Nap Ministry, Tricia Hersey, is that we are programmed not to let ourselves rest. She goes on to say, “There is deep power in taking a break, honoring your body and actively participating in your deprogramming from grind culture. We have been brainwashed to be violent towards our own bodies by pushing it to exhaustion… Rest is a form of resistance…”

So, we, I, have to know that we can, and must, reclaim the right to rest! Now, another paradox is that rest can at times come from things that may involve some exertion, but that also help us reset: our spiritual practices such as meditation or gratitude journaling, music, arts, gardening – whatever helps us enter a new mindset and thus, reset.

Again, paradoxically, physical activity can be one of the major ways to rest ourselves by resetting ourselves – dancing, for instance.

Now, even if we can’t dance like they do, we can dance however we are able, even if in our imagination!

So, dance like no one is watching, as the saying goes, or better yet, dance and be fine with whomever may be watching. I love the joy, humor and playfulness they infuse into the dancing we just watched.

And that bring us to joy and play.

JOY AND PLAY
There may be nothing else that restores us like engaging in play and experiencing joy.

One thing that Wayne and I have always shared is playful humor, and that shared humor is helping us through this current journey together, even if the humor gets a bit dicey these days, like when Wayne keeps insisting that he wants the processional music for his memorial service to be Baby Elephant Walk.

And that’s OK, because once again, movements for social justice are showing us that joy is integral to building the resilience, the continuing ability to find renewal so necessary for sustaining ourselves.

As an example, a group called Revival Resistance Chorus helps infuse joy into social action through their music. Here is how they describe themselves.

Resistance Revival Chorus believes in the words written by the poet Toi Derricotte when she wrote, “Joy is an act of resistance.” We believe in the words of Mr. Harry Belefonte who said “when the movement is strong, the music is strong.” We sing to revive the hearts of those who fight for social justice, and we sing together for freedom.

We’ll hear more from them shortly! Well, I want to talk last about perhaps our greatest source of renewal, last in part because I think that everything we have we have covered so far helps us to access this – what I am calling the sacred self.

THE SACRED SELF
What we refer to each week in our service as a spark of the divine within each of us. What a psychological theory called Internal Family Systems calls the authentic self – an ever renewing wellspring that is joyful, playful, calm, courageous, compassionate, pure and loving.

And part of renewal often involves putting aside parts of us that mask our authentic self – parts that have often helped us get through at times, but that may no longer be helpful and may in fact be wearing us down – other parts that may have been internalized through our family and our culture.

Parts such as the always ready fighter, the perfectionist, the people pleaser, the procrastinator, the constant helper of every one else, the self-medicator. What are some parts of you that may have once been helpful but may now be keeping you from accessing your sacred self?

Like Michelango carving aways the excess marble to free the angel within in our call to worship earlier – Like how restoring an old house often involves not so much adding new, but getting rid of the ugly seventies wallpaper, tearing out the regrettable shag carpeting in order to reclaim the beauty underneath – Our renewal often involves thanking these parts of us for the ways in which they have served us, and then quieting them, letting them rest, letting them rest so that our authentic self can light our way.

As we enter a new church year, face this election year, sustain our work for justice, deal with all that comes in our own lives and our world, together let us remember: community; nature, rest and reset, joy and play – these will release the sacred self.

These will refuel that true, radiant spark of the divine within us, so that it may shine forth again, and again, and again. Shine on, my beloveds. Shine on. Amen.

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.

SERMON INDEX

Most sermons during the past 24 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link above to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.

PODCASTS

Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the podcast link above or copying and pasting this link. https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/first-unitarian-universalist/id372427776