I've been revisiting some of the sermons I've written in the past few years, and will be posting some of them here to invite discussion.
This one is called In for Winter Out for Spring and was written in 2014.
I know you’ll all be surprised by this, but I’ve been running on empty. Between my job, my
family, our musical involvements and my commitments here at the fellowship, my life has been full to
overflowing. And then came the Dump situation; and then 3 people in my department quit….
And that’s just the personal stuff.
I don’t know if you’ve realized it but the world has been full of crazy lately too. Greed and fear
are running rampant - A Meme about Fox News states: “Rich people, paying rich people to tell
middle class people to blame poor people.” “Or, in other words – pay no attention to the man
behind the curtain”; or the “Oldest trick in the book” – “Lookest thou over there” for the answer to
your problem, do not look at its source. And it’s not just Fox news looking to pull some wool over
public eyes.
Between fracking issues, tar sands and their pipelines, lgbtq rights being denied, women’s rights
being chipped away, religious organizations making a case for themselves that their right to
religious freedom really means the ability to impose their views on others, and gun violence against
children increasing…articles and fb posts hammering away at me daily telling me all about HOW MUCH
I NEED TO DO NOW - and those are just some of the issues that have meaning for me.
Issues such as deforestation, strip mining, slavery, ownership of genomes, mass production and
inclusion of genetically modified organisms being part of our food chain, and WHAT DO WE DO WITH
ALL OF THIS PLASTIC GARBAGE we create, have not gone away.
Some of my FB friends have been posting messages of intolerance to their follwers “Please
stop posting pictures of abused animals – I can’t take it anymore” and I understand the
sentiment! The bombardment of issues has left me feeling incapable, frustrated and ANGRY!
Serendipitously - I have been teaching our 2nd-4th graders recently about anger.
The lesson plans says to demonstrate to our children that anger, and holding on to anger takes
a lot of energy ( no kidding). I was instructed to teach them about using tactile means to release
energy, and meditative means – yoga – music etc.
But we sometimes forget to use these means ourselves. I told the kids that their lesson was as
much for me as it was for them, and I have made much use of my anger beads in the past few
weeks.
So – how is all of this relevant?
Last autumn – I presented a service that talked about using the seasons to help us to navigate
through life with a spiritual focus. That in autumn we could focus on/meditate about what we
were harvesting; those things that we had previously planted and tended to in spring and
summer, and that we should be getting ready to head “into a time of renewal and
regeneration” a time when we could use the external darkness as an internal focus…a time
to allow ourselves to “find our source” and consider what we wanted to plant for future
harvests.
Now – I’m not going to tell you that I have found a miracle solution to my issues, or any answers
to yours, but – I can say that the extra burden of a 50 + hour work week to learn a new job, the
defeat of the Dump activism around the fall election, the constant flow of information on
how presumably smart people are standing on the side of big money rather than clean water,
clean air, and safe food for all people, the siding for lessening the rights of women, the siding for
denying the human rights of our LGBTQ brothers, sisters, sons, & daughters…
That I have spent some time thinking about despair, and flirting with being IN despair - about
whether or not what I could do as 1 person, even 1 family, 1 small community group, or 1 small
fellowship, really even matters.
And, I spent some time doing NOTHING about any of it.
I was too tired, too cold, too frozen by being overwhelmed; too depleted.
But now the season is turning…….
We are, by and large, creatures who worship the light. And with the light’s return, the desire to
be active, be activist, and be a part of the change has returned as well.
In her book “Women’s Studies and Me”, Annis Pratt writes:
“What you say is common clay,” my mother used to tell me, “what you do is you!” By the
time I was 10 I had heard about Gandhi and thought that “nonviolence” must be a really
powerful method for social change if he could take on the whole British Empire. At
College I saw that Martin Luther King Jr’s concept of social justice was grounded in
specific actions, and by graduation I had decided to accept as my personal credo
Aristotle’s belief that a life should be based on actions rather than ideas.
Sounds very Unitarian to me – and certainly, I believe, that is one of the reasons I found my way
here. Unitarians have a history of making a ruckus. Speaking out against what is wrong in the
world and speaking for the seeking of truth and justice.
Is there a seemingly insurmountable list of problems, wrong action, wrong doings, greed-driven
companies, power-hungry politicians? YES. And there is a list, just as long of people and
organizations who are trying to do what they can to “Make it right”. But, no one can go it alone,
no one can do everything, and everyone has a limit. The work that needs to be done in the
world is important work – and will only be accomplished through the work of many hands &
many voices.
I have a list of activist friends and acquaintances – people who are making fighting back their
life’s work.
Two local friends – have joined the Dump fighters – and
pretty much every other fight that they have been able – both local and national.
Kenny personally went and took videos of sensitive areas of the water gap before the
pipeline construction began; and has since taken video of the clearcutting and construction
underway in flood-prone, sensitive wetlands areas.
He also uses his time off of work to go and be part of rally’s; and helps keep people new to
activism focused and directed in their efforts.
A college student friend in Western Mass has devoted herself to climate issues and
has worked for 350.org. A couple weeks ago she and thousands of college students zip tied
themselves to the whitehouse fence to object to Keystone XL pipline and tar sands extraction.
She and many others of these young people who are fighting for their – and our – futures were
arrested for their efforts.
What have you and I done lately?
I try to remember to thank these fighters who I know frequently, because they need to hear it.
They need to know that they represent real people – who are paying attention and admire them
for what they are doing.
I try to do my part with letters, petitions and other activism as I can, and when I have the time
and energy, I try to up-the-ante.
We have all heard many hands make light work – in the case of the issues that have meaning
for us – many hands are what it is going to take to do the hard work…to “git er done” – and that
will sometimes mean going out of your comfort zone. Doing a little more than you thought you
could…
I sent some videos along with the Sunday service announcement this week. Some ideas to get
you started. Because I am going to challenge each and every one of you to do something this
spring. To pick a cause something you’ve worked on before or something new – and “up the
ante” a little – do a little more than you were planning on – or a little more than you had
considered before – to try to push the cause farther. Send a personal message to your mailing
list asking friends/acquaintances to join you in a letter-writing campaign. Submit a plan to help
organize a Sunday service to educate us on a favorite topic – or better yet – host a Tuesday
evening discussion group on it. Attend a rally. Physical presence of bodies is really really
important. Do SOMETHING. You will give hope to others who have been working tirelessly,
and you never know – you may tip the balance….
But – always remember to take time out when you need it. Set your own limits. Pick what
speaks to you loudest – ok and maybe what speaks to you second and third….but don’t try to
do EVERYTHING – it’s too overwhelming and you might just succumb to the despair that I was
mentioning earlier – and that is counterproductive. Find your own inner cycle or do what I have
tried to do and follow the sacred circle of the year going In for Winter/Out for Spring.
