Rare bird...

I had just gotten home from a very busy Sunday at the Unitarian Universalist congregation that I serve. The house was quiet; the afternoon was grey and dreary. As I stood in the kitchen, my coat and gloves still on, I happened to glance out the window and noticed a lot of activity at the bird feeders.
Then I saw it. Leaves were being vigorously tossed about on the ground by a bird obviously foraging for a tasty snack. But what bird was this? It sort of looked like a robin, and in fact there were some other robins in the yard farther off. Yet this one was different.
So I carefully approached nearer to the window and stared and stared. Indeed, this was no robin. It had colors similar, but unique markings on its back and wings. All I could do was watch intently, not wanting to lose sight of it.
Then I decided I needed a closer look. So I tip-toed over to the bookshelf where my binoculars are kept, all the while hoping the bird hadn’t flown. (Well, not actually on my tippy-toes, but I did walk quietly and quickly so as not to disturb the birds - who were, may I remind you, outside!)
No, he was still there. So I looked some more, verifying the appearance and markings, committing them to memory. However, I didn’t think to also grab my camera and take a picture.
When the bird was gone, I got out my Peterson's Guide. There was no picture of this bird there, but a hint that it might have been a Varied Thrush - a “casual winter straggler from the Northwest” right here in my backyard! I then went to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website and confirmed my identification.
Yes, it was a rare visit to New Jersey from a northwestern species. But without a picture, you just have to take my word on it! Unfortunately, NJ Audubon or any other group that tracks such things will not just accept my assertion that this is what I saw.
All I’m asking is that you accept it on faith.
Now where have I heard that before?

When the Catholic Bishops say I shouldn’t watch something, it’s an irresistible draw for me to go and see it!

I read an article a few months ago that wondered if the film distribution company was going to have any problem selling “The Golden Compass” since it is a movie about atheism. Because of its obvious connection to their religion, Christians were able to promote the Narnia movie easily. “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, while not overtly religious, at least did not openly challenge the authority of their scripture or story.
But here comes a story that is written from an atheistic point of view! Pullman creates an imaginative, rich world - almost a parallel universe to our own. He infuses these books with a sense of wonder, but it is science-based and refreshingly not the supernatural view of creation.

A young person in a Unitarian Universalist congregation I was serving a few years ago thrust a copy of the first book of Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” Trilogy (The Golden Compass) in my hands, telling me I must read this. I didn’t at the time, but kept it on my bookshelf. We moved twice since then, and each time I took the paperback off the shelf and wondered whether to pack it or not. But it made the trip from Connecticut through Queens to New Jersey. And when I heard there was concern about how (or whether) to promote a movie based on a story that (purportedly) promotes atheism to young people, I knew now why I had to read it! Parents are being warned against taking their children to see this film lest their faith be challenged. So of course I wholeheartedly recommend the books and the movie to you.

If you take your religion seriously, and enjoy thinking about the world we live in, read this. The scars we all bear from those religious teachings that stress human sinfulness and how power coalesces around the control of thought and belief are just some of the themes you'll find here. It is classified as “young adult fantasy/fiction”, but it really is a book for us adults, too. And to my mind, it is much richer in its approach to life and death than the Harry Potter series.
Indeed, in the film as the character Lyra begins to discover her purpose in life, she is told about the coming war - the purpose of this struggle will be the preservation of human free will. And all this against a background of a world (and worlds) increasingly severed from its origins.
When a presidential candidate openly warns against a “religion of secularism” and advocates keeping God in our politics, we need this message more and more!

Cherish your doubts…

A month or two ago there was a flurry of commentary on line and in newspapers about some personal writings of Mother Theresa. Considered a “living saint” during her lifetime, she was a woman whose apparent selflessness and dedication to the destitute and dying in India was a model, for many, of unshakable faith.
Yet a book of her correspondence with various confessors reveals that as firm as she was in her call from god, she also was given to feelings of detachment from god, to being lost. Many reacted to these revelations with surprise, or even shock. Some were dumbfounded and others even attributed these feelings of hers to the work of the devil trying to tempt her away from god.
All human beings experience what poets call the “dark night of the soul” - moments, days even weeks of doubt, wonderings, questions or feeling adrift. That one so good, so “holy” should experience this is in no way a sign of evil or an indication of a lack of goodness. For us such questions or explorations might even be the sign of a deeper religious experience, of a different kind of “sainthood”.
Now we religious liberals aren’t usually given over to spiritual ecstasy or hopes of halos and wings sprouting from our shoulders. We don’t look for miracles. But we are deeply religious. And our doubts, when accompanied by a thoughtful, reflective, honest and feeling quest for meaning may be our road to “sainthood”. Doubt is the testing of belief, the ground of reformation, the fountain of renewal. For when we question, when we wonder, we discover.
We can be reassured not so much in the outcome, but in our very ability to do this. And we must then be thankful for this particular religion and this congregation that celebrates and encourages such doubts, questions and wonderings.
Perhaps we aren’t destined for halos nor are we expecting miracles to result from our very being. But we can dearly prize this great gift of doubt. And as more people learn of us, perhaps from those magazine ads, we can welcome and encourage more and more the questions and wondering that lead to understand, to truths and new meanings!

I am so sick of this - of someone's sexual or affectional orientation seen as a shameful condition. What is this - the 1960’s so pointedly portrayed on the AMC series “Mad Men”?
This latest case - a Senator who was caught “soliciting”, they say, sex in an airport men’s room - has led to firm and furious denials of “being gay” - am not and never was. As if there’s something wrong with that.
Oh yeah, I forgot. This is the United States in the early 21st century... there is something wrong with that, in some people’s eyes. But it’s hard to listen to the news on NPR and hear people asking for his resignation because of this.
You see, it’s not clear if he ought to resign because he lied, was arrested and pled guilty to something. If those were the reasons, fine. He is not trustworthy and shows poor judgment.
Or he should resign because he is homosexual - a closeted gay man in a homophobic, straight world.
In my heart I think it is because he may - or may not be - homosexual. That is the crime, the transgression. I have to think that hurts every gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, any queer person. To hear, over and over, how unacceptable we are - even if it’s only inferential. Sigh…

After the Wedding

They were of different religions. The ceremony was not to be overtly religious - no trace of Hindu or Muslim religion - but inclusive of some cultural traditions.
And it also had to bring together the 500 people gathered that day: family from England, India and across the United States; generations assimilated but clearly tethered to tradition and family; and friends who created “family” when parents and relations are separated by ocean and continent. What to do?
What I preached in the ceremony was the universal message and meaning of marriage - love, commitment, understanding, common purpose, respectful of differences, et cetera. The words reflected sentiments expressed in both sides’ wedding traditions without quoting either of them.
Later, after dancing and drinks and good food, we were all feeling uplifted by the day. It was a beautiful event, and the handsome couple carried themselves with grace throughout. Their joy and affection for each other showed through all the words, glittering finery and rituals.
Many people stopped to tell me that they enjoyed or were moved by the wedding ceremony. This is not unusual for Unitarian Universalist clergy, in my experience. And I am not immune to compliments and frankly was glad to know I had hit the mark… and most relieved to not have offended anyone!
But to hear “Your words were just right,” spoken with smiles, relief and appreciation, and then have it followed with something like “If we could only all live by them outside in the world.” brought a sigh and a bit of sadness. Yes, if only.
This got me to thinking that maybe, just maybe, if we keep doing things like this enough - if we get comfortable living in the borders that the world creates; if we lose the fear of difference often enough to risk loving and accepting one another - drop by drop, bit by bit, the balance may tip in favor of beloved community. Just maybe…

Refulgence…

Well, there’s a fifty-cent word if I ever used one! I first encountered it in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s famed Divinity School Address of 1838:
In this refulgent summer, it has been a luxury to draw the breath of life. The grass grows, the buds burst, the meadow is spotted with fire and gold in the tint of flowers.
As I step out onto the patio, about to tackle the weeds taking over the herb garden, Mr. Emerson’s phrase comes to mind. The air is hot, a little humid. Insects buzz about. I watch seven or eight small white butterflies dance gracefully through the catnip blossoms. The sun is shining brightly as a few clouds drift overhead in the hazy blue sky. In many ways, a perfect summer day!
Indeed, it is a luxury to breathe deeply this abundant life. Soon, the tomatoes will ripen and the peppers will grow fat. And I write this after spending the past week thinking, listening, preaching and breathing sermons. What Emerson said to those young men on that July day ushered in a revolution in religion, and served as a guiding principle in that course now completed: The true preacher can be known by this, that he deals out to the people his life, — life passed through the fire of thought.
Yet on this refulgent day, I am no less stirred by his charge to those 19th century ministers than I am by the joys (and drudgery) of the backyard gardens in July and August. Both demand my awareness, my attention and my whole self. For now, though, I will give myself over to the luxury of tending these green and growing things. And sipping a tall, lemony iced tea now and then.
I know I am lucky to have these moments, this respite from the day-to-day. The world, with all its cares and woes, is not far from my elbow as I bend to pull one more weed. To draw that breath of life is, indeed, a luxury. Gratitude fills my heart as I know I will turn from this orderly patch of earth to wrestle life’s greater concerns soon enough.
May the rest of your summer days be a balanced combination of work and play, of reflection and action. more soon…

Men with Guns

The killings at Virginia Tech occupy all the news. What happened, who is to blame… should the university “shut down” sooner? What kind of strong police response would have helped? What have we learned?
In the midst of all this - grief, unmitigated grief of parents, family, friends. And fear.
And at the root of all this is the influence of our gun culture. And by “gun culture” I don’t just mean 2nd Amendment rights. I mean the culture where violence is a right and a response.
Some of you know I am a “Law and Order” addict. And I watch a lot of re-runs on USA network, where I get to see way too many ads for World Wrestling Entertainment bouts. This so-called “entertainment” promotes violence, revenge and the settling of differences by throwing one another about.
Now, I watch and enjoy plays and films where violence and battle scenes are part of the story. And I understand this “wrestling” is all show. As a child I watched (secretly - my mother would have had a fit) those old wrestling programs with Bruno Sammartino and Gorgeous George. But that was so fake, and so silly. And I don’t see this WWE wrestling as the same as Lucha Libre.
This is different. This “raw” wrestling, with our without “the Donald”, is brutal even as it is theatrical. And the screaming fans - portrayed as ordinary guys - yelling, veins bulging.
It’s a culture of violence that allows the disinherited, the deranged, the disappointed to think that the only way to settle themselves or their disputes is to take it out on someone else, not with fists but with guns, semi-automatic weapons, rifles. And then take it out on themselves.
Whether it is a murder-suicide in a suburban tract house or urban apartment, or a mass slaying in a school or business, it is too much. Enough. Enough. We are so far beyond any “debate” about gun-owners’ rights and freedoms.
This is no easy thing. I listened to the voice of a soldier in Iraq on television last night. He spoke about the conflicting message of the religious injunction against murder “thou shalt not kill” and the order to shoot that must be obeyed. How he prayed the man in his sites would stop running away so that he did not have to kill him. But the man ran, in fear perhaps, and the soldier “had” to shoot him.
How can we ordinary citizens find a way to end this country, and our society’s addiction to violence and guns? What have we learned? Law and order, indeed!

The War in Iraq - enough already!

I was against it from the get-go, but who am I? Just an ordinary citizen, full of outrage and sadness, standing on some street corner holding a candle.
And the rhetoric goes on and on. To pullout, they say, is to surrender - it means defeat. But how would we know? What does “victory” look like? They went into this war with some misty vision of “freedom and democracy”, routing an evil dictator harboring terrorists and poised to destroy us with WMD’s.
That bill of goods we were sold - and that some actually bought - was all false. Voices raised objections, suggested that this bellicose attitude was not in keeping with what we understood the USA could be, that these acts of war would stir up more hatred of this country and foment more terrorism, not less; would make us not safer or secure but more vulnerable.
There was no real vision, no realistic idea of what Iraq (or Afghanistan) would be after we smashed it all to pieces. No plan for restoring the infrastructure, for helping the new government meet the basic needs for people in Iraq and Afghanistan; or a way to promote a safe, civil society that fosters democracy, education, openness. And we know - without a vision, the people perish.
So now what? We could stay the course (a phrase they don’t use anymore, but whatever they say now means the same thing) - and one commentator suggests we must, and we have to be patient. It could take 12 years to set things right.
Can you imagine - 12 years of this? Billions of dollars every year. Thousands and thousands of deaths (“ours” and “theirs”), even more maimed; civil dislocation and disruption. And what I don’t hear in this argument about budget line-items for war is anything related to the cost here at home.
If we spend billions on the war (“supporting the troops” or supporting the military-industrial complex), the cost must be measured not only in dollars but in the very real human costs as well: the decline of social welfare… families disrupted, lives damaged, lack of funding for needed social programs that keep our society safe, healthy, educated, housed and working [or could, if we ever got our priorities straight in this country].
The future of this country - of our civil, democratic society - is at risk. Does anybody in a position to do anything about it care?

The finches are house-hunting!

Once again, I meant to take down the Christmas wreaths and lights after Valentine’s Day (my tradition). But here it is, early March, and Spring is just around the corner. Jews celebrate Purim - a holiday marked with costumes, celebration and (in some interpretations) licensed drunkenness just this one time of the year. And for Hindus it is Holi - the spring festival rooted in ancient fertility rites, where participants are sprinkled or smeared with brightly colored powders.
And we get house finches! Last year they nested in the wreath by the front door (my hip surgery was my excuse for not removing it sooner) and we proudly watched the hatchlings be fed and ruffle their feathers before they took flight.
And now on a Sunday morning, polishing the Canvass sermon, I am distracted by several finches, male and female, flitting back and forth between the bush and the front of the house. I guess I ought to take down the decorations later today. But do I take it all down - a preventive measure insuring a bird-free front door - or leave the wreath up, just in case?
If there’s any evidence of a new nest, I think the wreath will have to remain until the eggs are laid and any fledglings are gone. There it will hang, a rather forlorn bit of holiday greens sporting wintry pinecones and a jaunty ribbon, hosting spring’s new life.

A person is a person because of other people

Two weeks ago I attended a UUA conference called Now Is the Time: Leading Congregations into a Multicultural, Multiracial Future. There, in a hotel conference room just outside Washington D.C., about 150 Unitarian Universalists were trying (yet again) to address issues of race and culture and class.
Even at my most naive, I know better than to go to one of these conferences hoping to come back with easy answers and handy programs that will make the world fair and just. But, of course - that’s just what I did
I’ve been processing the experience and I can’t quite distill it into a neatly bullet-pointed list. As I reflect back on what I heard and experienced last week, it seems that the bigger the problem is, the smaller the response needs to be.
Creating a world filled with justice and equality and peace is a huge challenge. But we can’t let the enormity of the issue or the intractable nature of racism stop us.
We must be the change we want to see: our hope for a rich, diverse, inclusive community and society.
Of course, no one program or workshop or resolution will provide the answer. The work begins with each individual, each of us. It requires us to become what Reverend Jacqui Lewis, the keynote speaker, called a border person - someone comfortable with differences, who challenges the divisions we setup to keep people apart.
A border person recognizes difference, affirms the other; is willing to see the other in his or her own self. We have to practice radical hospitality. We have to be open
The Zulu people will sometimes greet one another with the word “Sawubona" - which means "I see you". And the response - "Ngikhona" - means "I am here" (or “I exist”).
This is so much more than another form of “hello”. Inherent in this Zulu greeting and our grateful response, is the sense that until you saw me, I didn't exist. By recognizing me, you brought me into existence. A Zulu folk saying clarifies this further:
"A person is a person because of other people".

Women kissing women - front page, top of the fold!

The front-page pictures are a revelation. A new day has dawned, to be sure. So, when are we going to jump on the “civil union” bandwagon?
Funny, now that the law is in force and happy same-sex couples are tying this sort-of knot in courts and in houses of worship, I am feeling the pressure of ceremony. It’s getting very personal. No matter what the state calls it, I am given over to musing on “marriage”. What’s it for?
Oh sure, there’s the legal protections. That is certainly a good reason to do it. And it will be a grand excuse for a party with family and friends… another sound reason. The materialist in me pesters with fantasies of Pottery Barn and the like gift registries, even though we have enough stuff and would probably opt for some charitable option. Well, a girl can dream, can’t she?
Deep down, though, I think we should “civil unionize” as, like I say in all those ceremonies I’ve conducted for others, an “outward symbol and expression of a sacred and awesome union of hearts, which this religious community may bless and the state may make legal, but which can be kept alone by abiding will and generous faith.”
It is in the spirit of such loving commitment that we have already been joined. The glow of romance and newness has long worn off. Stress, testiness, difficulties - they're all part and parcel of that “sacred and awesome” union, too. We will affirm it all.
Someday soon…

on Valentine's Day

Don’t get me flowers for this one day.
Chocolates, champagne - I love them both but they just won’t do.
What I want is LOVE -
not romance or flirtation but that love that matters.

Because it matters if I love
or not.
It matters if you love
or not.
I have to believe it makes a difference
whether we love
or not.
Otherwise, why love?

Unconditional. Unprovoked.
Love.
It is yours at your birth.
It is all the universe can endow.
It is all we have to offer.
What we make of it is our human gift, or our failing?
Do we make a bond of it? Or a war?
Do we use it to measure who is lacking, who is gifted?

Love is not a weapon.
Love is a force
Untamed wild
And possible.

This Amazing Life

So, it's been a while since my last posting. The winter holidays have come and gone, and it’s Darwin Day!
Back in August, Mary and I visited the American Museum of Natural History’s most excellent Darwin exhibit. Shortly after that, I wrote a sermon inspired by a short phrase that I read on one of the panels at the Darwin exhibit. I didn’t write it down, but here’s the gist of it:
The more I look, the more I am filled with wonder at this amazing life.
This amazing life… what a treasure it is, what a gift. And how easily we human beings can squander it! I’m sorry, but those fools in Washington DC who have so stupidly took us to war - so unadvisedly, so irrationally, so almost cavalierly - continue to stun me with their obtuseness. Will they be aided and abetted by another “do-nothing” Congress?
Call me naive, but I just don’t get it. How can intelligent human beings, with the capacity for wonder and compassion, do what they do? How can we not have evolved to a more cooperative, interdependent state of being? As a minister, I preach, and teach and comfort and care… and when I start to look beyond my small sphere of influence, I wonder… what’s it all for?
But, as I preached back in August, I still believe in an essential goodness present with creation, within each of us, that we must continually hold to, lift up and affirm. We are but a small blip on the great span of creation and evolution. Yet we still matter – we are a part of all this grandeur, all this complexity. The more we see its sweep and vastness, we know we are connected – in the cells we share, the history etched in our genes. In this most amazing life, we matter most especially - and most importantly - to one another.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese,
harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place in the family of things.
(from reading SLT # 490 by Mary Oliver)