Something Larger than Ourselves

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

Rev. Chris Jimmerson
June 15, 2025
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

For individuals, feeling a part of something larger than oneself can increase happiness, enhance well-being, create a greater sense of purpose and meaning in life, give us a sense of belonging, and improve mental health in a variety of areas. First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin is a part of our larger UU faith and an even larger effort to build Beloved Community. Might fully engaging this larger belonging confer these same benefits to us a religious community?

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

SOMETHING A BIT LARGER

Scientists estimate that there are at least a septillion stars out there. That’s a one, followed by 24 zeros. Imagine then, how much star dust there may be. I am but one tiny configuration of star dust. That’s so infinitesimal. Any yet, I am an integral part of something much greater than a septillion! And that’s immeasurable! What a difference I might make.

Affirming Our Mission

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

Reading

BELONGING
by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

And if it’s true we are alone,
we are alone together,
the way blades of grass
are alone, but exist as a field.
Sometimes I feel it,
the green fuse that ignites us,
the wild thrum that unites us,
an inner hum that reminds us
of our shared humanity.

Just as thirty-five trillion
red blood cells join in one body
to become one blood.
Just as one hundred thirty-six thousand
notes make up one symphony.
Alone as we are, our small voices
weave into the one big conversation.
Our actions are essential
to the one infinite story of what it is
to be alive.

When we feel alone,
we belong to the grand communion
of those who sometimes feel alone –
we are the dust, the dust that hopes,
a rising of dust, a thrill of dust,
the dust that dances in the light
with all other dust, the dust
that makes the world.

Sermon

At the turn of the 19th century, 23 year old Joseph Tuckerman was asked to be the minister of what would become the Unitarian church in the town of Chelsea Massachusetts.

He had recently graduated from from Harvard (you know, that place that is under attack by the taco tyrant all of these years later), where one of his classmates was another aspiring minister, William Ellery Channing, who would go on to give a famous sermon he titled, “Unitarian Christianity” that would catalyze the formalization of Unitarian religion in the United States and lead to Channing and others forming the American Unitarian Association six years later.

Tuckerman, though, struggled at Harvard. It’s said Channing had even told him, “You should study harder.”

But Tuckerman felt something was missing from his studies. He didn’t want to just read books all the time. He felt like he could also learn from talking with other people.

Something was incomplete. He need more to be feel whole.

He did graduate though and went on to serve that church in Chelsea for 25 years, preaching twice on Sundays and serving the spiritual needs of the people in his congregation.

Still, he continued to feel something was missing – a dissatisfaction. That his ministry and calling were not entirely complete.

And so he began to also serve the greater community in Chelsea, where many sailors and their families lived.

The sailors were often away for months and years, so their families often faced periods where they had little money.

Tuckerman would help them with food, clothing or whatever else they might need.

In 1826, still feeling a need to connect with something larger and facing ill health, Tuckerman resigned from his church.

He went to Boston, where he immersed himself among the sailors and others who lived with financial challenges, as well as difficulties like alcoholism.

Tuckerman listened to their stories about how they had come to face these challenges and what their needs were. He studied his bible and concluded that Jesus had called us to love everyone and to assist the poor, the hungry, the sick, including the illness of addiction. And there he found his greater calling.

He worked with his college classmate’s American Unitarian Association to create an organization that coordinated with each of the Unitarian churches throughout the Boston area to provide support and assistance to help meet the needs of folks in their neighborhoods and communities.

Joseph Tuckerman had found his purpose and now felt complete, and in doing so, he founded what we have come to know as “community ministry” – ministers who primarily serve the needs of communities beyond our church walls.

Tuckerman found his purpose in life by connecting with something much larger than himself and what had traditionally been the role of a minister.

Author and scholar of mythology and religion, Joseph Campbell said, “A hero is someone who has given their life to something bigger than oneself.”

And I suppose by that definition he means we all have the capacity to be heroes in on our own way.

He believed we all have a purpose – a calling from and toward something larger than ourselves that when followed will bring us bliss.

He said, “Follow your bliss.”

Our religious education manager, Sol, spoke eloquently of this last Sunday when they talked about the sense of calling they have found through Sol’s wonderful work with our children.

And, there is evidence that, like our Unitarian ancestor Joseph Tuckerman, we all need that sense of being a part of something greater to feel complete and fulfilled.

Studies have found that having a sense of being a part of something larger benefits us in a variety of ways, especially when that sense is that though we may be a tiny part of that something larger, we are also an integral part it.

So, embrace humility and hero potential all at the same time! Now, some of those potential benefits of doing so seem to be:

positive psychological effects, such as reduced stress and anxiety, less depression, and a greater sense of wholeness, happiness and life-fulfillment.
a bigger sense of connection and belonging, moving us toward greater compassion, empathy and prosocial behavior.
it can make us more resilient in the face of life challenges.
provide us with greater meaning and purpose in our lives, and when shared with other folks can deepen our emotional bonds.

And that’s just to name a few!

Now, it’s important to note that feeling we are a part of something larger can take many different forms.

That “something larger” could be a belief in a deity or a sense of transcendent or divine forces at play in our universe.

But, it can also take so many other forms:

Joining a church can feel like connecting with something larger.
Playing a piano duet such that the combined talent produces something of even greater beauty!
Prayer, meditation, and other forms of religious or spiritual experiences whether or not they involve a supernatural belief system.
It can be dedication to a cause or working for justice
It could be a vocation that fulfills us, but it could also be the volunteer work we do during our time off.
It could be an art, music, a sport or athletic endeavor, connecting with nature, a science, learning, reading, gardening, our family and loved ones, a community or some combination of all of these and more!

Whatever gives us this profound sense of vast interconnectedness and belonging, can be the something larger through which we find that sense of purpose in life.

It is this feeling of interconnectedness and belonging so immense it is beyond words, regardless of the specific sources that drive it within us, that has the potential to transform us.

There is currently a lot of research showing the potential benefits of psychedelics such as ketamine, psilocybin (the active agent in magic mushrooms), LSD and the like as treatments for conditions such as depression, addiction, grief and trauma.

A theory behind why these compounds may have such benefits is that they almost universally bring about this sense of vast interconnectedness.

Well, I was amused recently to read that a study in London found that people treated with psilocybin tended to switch from a highly individualistic, materialistic, every person for themself personal and political philosophy, to a more altruistic, communal, we’re all in this together mindset.

I thought, “Maybe we should create magic mushrooms for MAGA spiritual retreats.

Speaking of spiritual gatherings, this coming week, several us from First Unitarian Universalist (UU) Church of Austin will be attending our annual UU General Assembly.

General Assembly or GA is where UUs from across the country and indeed the world gather to learn together, do the business of our association of UU Congregations and organizations, and to build communal power for doing justice.

Interestingly enough, this year GA will be in Baltimore, the city where William Ellery Channing preached the sermon I mentioned earlier that launched American Unitarianism and is often referred to as the “Baltimore sermon”.

And so we return to the birthplace of something greater than us as individual congregations but of which we are still an integral part to immerse ourselves in our larger faith movement.

I can still remember the first GA I ever attended. It was at the Salt Lake City convention center right next to the Mormon Tabernacle and complex, so you had UUs and Mormons intermingling on those Salt lake city sidewalks, which made for some interesting juxtapositions.

We UUs tended to sport many more tattoos, body piercings, slogan buttons, and practical if not very attractive footwear.

We were, though, almost as white.

I remember feeling awestruck when I first joined with those thousands of other UU s at that GA, somewhat humbled by the realization that our church and we are not nearly as unique as we may sometimes think, but also feeling so empowered to discover that we are not alone.

We are not isolated, but instead a part of a much larger religious movement that is in turn interconnected in solidarity with many other faith traditions and social movements dedicated to building the Beloved Community on a national and even global level.

And my beloveds, we, as a religious community need this connection with something larger than ourselves now more than ever.

With what had been happening in Los Angeles and across our country:

the use of the military against our own citizens,
the threats and even violence against government officials with whom the Trump administration disagrees, and now even assassinations,
the demonization of LTBTQ+ folks,
spending millions on a military parade for the taco tyrant while he pushes through policies to make the wealthy and powerful even more powerful at the. expense of everyone else – dismantling things like medicaid, medicare, social security, health research and care, FEMA, and so much more.
the use of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, not to protect anyone or anything, but to intimidate – instill terror into anyone who would resist this racist, misogynistic, white Christian Nationalist, authoritarian agenda.

With these and so many other threats to justice and equity, with the absolute disregard and disdain for checks and balances and the fundamental structures and norms required for functional democracy, both nationally and here in our state, we, as one church, no matter how wonderful and engaged we may be, cannot be a lone hero.

We need our connection with our fellow UU churches, locally, throughout the state through our Texas UU Justice Ministry, and more broadly through our UU Southern region offices and our national Unitarian Universalist Association.

We need the solidarity they bring with other faiths and secular organizations that share our values and our commitment to building the Beloved Community even up against these threats to it we are currently witnessing.

Just like with individuals, as a religious community, we can benefit from being a part of something larger than ourselves: greater social and political power; increased resiliency in this time of such great difficulty in our state and our country.

And who here when witnessing the news these days can easily fall prey to anxiety, or even despair and depression?

Me!

Connecting to our greater faith movement as a religious community can help alleviate these stressors for us, as both the community as a whole and as individuals.

It can further increase our sense of belonging, give us support and encouragement and remind us of our shared mission to nourish souls, transform lives and do justice to build the Beloved Community.

Something larger.

Hope. Meaning. Purpose.

In the months to come, your ministers, along with your board of trustees, your church staff and volunteers, and with each of you who want to participate will be exploring ways of becoming even more a part of our larger UU faith and the larger movement for justice that is rising up across our country and our world.

I encourage each of you individually to explore how you can connect with our greater faith also. You can find several ways to get started by going to austinuu.org, and I would be happy to set up a time to talk with you about it also if you would like.

And, allow me to bear witness and give testimony.

I am so lucky, so blessed to get serve as your minister within this greater UU faith of ours.

Along with a fierce love, it is such a source of what gives me that sense of being a part of something greater.

Hope. Meaning. Purpose.

I wish the very same for each of you and for this religious community as a whole.

Joseph Campbell was right. I have no doubt there is a hero within each of you – a calling from something immense and powerful from both within and beyond. Keep answering that call. As Campbell said, “follow your bliss.”

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

“We are the dust,
the dust that hopes,
a rising of dust, a thrill of dust,
the dust that dances in the light
with all other dust, the dust
that makes the world.”

Let us go out now and make and remake our world.
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